SHERMAN -- During a break in a court hearing Tuesday, two women and their families chatted amiably in the courthouse corridor -- about children and grandchildren, and other aspects of their lives that have been intertwined for nearly three decades.
It's not that Shari Bower and Robbie Dutton are friends. But it's clear that after all these years, beginning with a horrific discovery in an airplane hangar near Sherman, they aren't enemies, either."Shari has had a loss, too," Dutton said Tuesday. "It's different from our own, but she didn't do anything, and her daughters didn't do anything. As a Christian, I let go of that anger and that hate a long time ago. I have no reason to be anything but kind to her and her daughters, and I will continue to do so."In October 1983, Dutton's husband, Jerry Mack Brown, was among four men -- the others were Bob Tate, Philip Good and Ronald Mayes -- shot execution-style inside a hangar at Tate's B & B Ranch.Bower's husband, Lester Leroy Bower, was arrested three months later. Prosecutors contended that Bower, an Arlington chemical salesman, killed Tate to steal an ultralight aircraft valued at about $3,500 and shot the other men when they showed up unexpectedly.Bower was convicted and sentenced to die. Ever since, in state and federal courts, Bower and his lawyers have been fighting to prove his innocence.This week's hearing in Sherman was the latest skirmish, as Bower's team presented dramatic testimony from two women who said a drug gang, not Bower, killed the men.The women's names were not used in court. The men they accused were identified as Lynn, Bear, Ches and Rocky, members of a methamphetamine ring operating in southern Oklahoma at the time, they said.The hearing concluded Tuesday. State District Judge Jim Fallon is expected to issue a finding in the next few weeks. The case then goes to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which ordered the hearing.The years of appellate proceedings have brought together again and again the families of Bower and the four dead men.Shari Bower remembers a moment during a federal hearing in 2000, after particularly heart-wrenching testimony. Bower said she encountered Dutton and another widow in the restroom."I went over to them, and we all hugged," Shari Bower said Tuesday. "They cried. I cried. Before we left, something had changed. I think it's a mutual respect. I respect them, and they respect me. There can be no animosity on my part. No matter what her feelings are about Les, [Dutton] doesn't hold that against me. Therefore we can have a relationship."What they don't discuss are opinions about Lester Bower's guilt or innocence. From the time of his arrest in 1984, Shari Bower has been a steadfast supporter of her husband, who at age 64 is the fourth-oldest man on Texas' Death Row.In Tuesday's testimony, a defense expert testified that one man acting alone could not have subdued four men.But Grayson County prosecutors cited a series of lies that Bower told to FBI agents and to his wife in the weeks after the killings.At one point Tuesday, prosecutor Kerye Ashmore called one of Bower's claims a "cock and bull story."Dutton said she remains convinced of Bower's guilt. That, Shari Bower said, makes their relationship "confusing.""I can't explain it," Shari Bower said. "I think she has bought the scenario she's been given. We can agree not to agree, I guess."Dutton said: "If I would be in her position, I would probably be in as much denial about my husband as she is. For a long time I didn't want anything to do with them. I didn't feel like I was supposed to. But you can only carry that anger for so long."Dutton and Bower said religious faith helps.Nonetheless, Bower's eyes flashed with anger Tuesday when told that Dutton thought she was in "denial."But, she said, "I can live with that."Tim Madigan, 817-390-7544Twitter: @tsmadiganHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
