Brandon Hedrick

Brandon Wayne Hedrick (February 23, 1979 – July 20, 2006) was a convicted murderer who was executed by electric chair by the U.S. state of Virginia. He was convicted of the 1997 murder of 23-year-old Lisa Crider, who was kidnapped, robbed, raped, and shot in the face. He was the first person electrocuted in Virginia since 2003, when Earl Bramblett was executed for rape and murder.

Crime

On May 10, 1997, Hedrick and Trevor Jones spent the evening drinking, smoking crack cocaine and marijuana, and employing the services of four prostitutes. After driving the last two prostitutes back to downtown Lynchburg, Virginia, Hedrick and Jones saw Lisa Yvonne Crider, an African American woman. Jones knew that Crider's boyfriend was a crack cocaine dealer, and the two decided to pick Crider up, have sex with her, and rob her of any crack in her possession. Crider voluntarily travelled with Hedrick and Jones back to Jones's apartment, where Jones paid Crider $50 to have sex with him. Afterwards, Hedrick retrieved a shotgun from Jones’s car at Jones’s direction and robbed Crider of the $50 at gunpoint. Hedrick and Jones handcuffed Crider, duct-taped her eyes and mouth, and led her out to Jones’s truck. The three left the apartment around 1:00 a.m.

After driving for some time, Jones stopped the truck because Hedrick wanted to have sex with Crider. Hedrick raped Crider after telling her not to "try anything" because he had a gun. Afterwards, the two men decided to kill Crider, fearing retaliation from her boyfriend. As they drove in search of a suitable location, Crider, pleading for her life, asked if there was anything she could do to keep them from killing her. Hedrick told Crider that if she fellated him, he'd "think about it", at which point Crider performed oral sex on Hedrick.

They continued driving until daybreak, when Jones stopped the truck near the James River. Jones led Crider to the riverbank, told Hedrick to "do what you got to do", and walked back to the truck. Hedrick shot Crider and left with Jones. The two men fled Virginia in Jones’ truck the next day. That evening, Crider’s body was discovered at the James River with a shotgun wound to the face. About one week later, the authorities arrested Hedrick and Jones in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Hedrick was convicted of capital murder in the commission of robbery, rape, forcible sodomy, abduction, and use of a firearm in the commission of murder. During the sentencing phase of his trial, a court-appointed clinical psychologist testified at sentencing that Hedrick was significantly immature for his age and that he had a problem with drugs and alcohol that accelerated in the months leading up to the crimes. He noted Hedrick’s IQ score of 76, which was "far below average", although "not so low as to suggest mental retardation". The jury recommended that he be sentenced to death, finding that Hedrick posed a "continuing serious threat to society" and that his conduct in committing the offenses was "outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind, aggravated battery to the victim beyond the minimum necessary to accomplish the act of murder". The Circuit Court agreed and, on July 22, 1998, sentenced Hedrick to death.

Hedrick's accomplice, Trevor Jones, was sentenced to life in prison.

Execution

Under Virginia law since January 1, 1995, condemned prisoners have been able to choose between the electric chair and lethal injection as their execution method. Hedrick's lawyers have indicated that he chose the electric chair because he feared complications related to the drugs used in the lethal injection.

The Governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, denied Hedrick's petition for clemency, giving the following statement:

"In May of 1998, Brandon Wayne Hedrick was found guilty of capital murder in the commission of robbery, abduction, forcible sodomy, rape, and use of a firearm in the murder of Lisa Crider, a young mother. In a separate sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended that Hedrick be sentenced to death on the capital murder conviction, and this recommendation was adopted by the trial judge. The trial, verdict, and sentence have been reviewed in detail by various state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Supreme Court of the United States."
"Having carefully reviewed the Petition for Clemency and judicial opinions regarding this case, I find no reason to doubt Mr. Hedrick’s guilt or to set aside the sentence that was recommended by the jury and then imposed and affirmed by the courts."
"Accordingly, I decline to intervene."

Hedrick's final words were:

"I pray for everybody that believes in Jesus Christ in heaven, and I pray for the people that are unsaved that they will accept Christ because they know not what they do and will accept Christ one day. I’m ready to go and be free."

He was pronounced dead at 9:12 p.m. on July 20, 2006 at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia.

See also

References

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