A former Terrell man who killed five people in October of 2013 is getting pulled off death row for good.
The Kaufman County District Attorney’s office says Charles Brownlow will instead be locked up for the rest of his life with no chance for parole.
Brownlow was convicted and sentenced to death for a murderous rampage that happened just before Halloween in the town of Terrell. Brownlow first murdered his mother after an argument over a cell phone. Over the next few hours, Brownlow murdered his aunt, two family friends and convenience store clerk Luis Carillo.
Prosecutors only tried Brownlow for Carillo’s death, but were able to use the other four murders as evidence during his death penalty hearing. The jury sentenced him to death.
But in a ruling last February the high court says there has been new guidance on intellectual disabilities and how they factor into a death sentence.
The court overturned the death sentence and sent the case back for another penalty hearing, which effectively would have meant another trial, complete with evidence. However the new hearing would have been conducted under the new U.S. Supreme Court guidelines.
“We did have an expert look at the long trial, all the evidence and say we would not prevail under the new ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States, and that he is intellectually disabled” said Marc Moffitt, an Assistant District Attorney in the Kaufman County office.
Moffitt says they talked to Brownlow’s family members as well as the families of the other victims and explained the reasons. He says they all were supportive of the decision.