That's the title of Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders' latest, regarding the 1982 lethal injection execution of Charlie Brooks.
For many in this country, Friday was a day to reflect on a horrific event that happened 71 years ago: the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.But for one Fort Worth family, Dec. 7 will "live in infamy" for another reason: It marks the day one of their own made history by becoming the first person put to death by lethal injection and the first person in Texas to be executed following an 18-year hiatus for capital punishment in the United States.
Charlie Brooks Jr. was executed in Huntsville on Dec. 7, 1982, having been convicted of shooting to death a Fort Worth used car company employee six years earlier.
His family, friends and opponents of the death penalty held a memorial service Friday on the 30th anniversary of his death at the Riverside Community Center, not far from where Brooks and his co-defendant grew up.
And:
Charlie Brooks' case underscores the arbitrariness and capriciousness of capital punishment. He and co-defendant Woodie Loudres were sentenced to death, but Loudres' sentence was overturned because of jury-selection problems.
Loudres then pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Loudres has served his time and is now active in a church and in the Riverside community.
Hours after Brooks' execution, Jack Strickland, who had been lead prosecutor in the case, told ABC's Good Morning America: "It may well be, as horrible as it is to contemplate, that the state of Texas executed the wrong man at 12:09 a.m."
Charlie Brooks' name is at the top of the state's list of executed individuals since 1982. There are 491 other names that follow.
Earlier coverage of the anniversary of Charlie Brooks' execution begins at the link.
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