Texas parole board recommends clemency for Sugar Land man slated to die for murder-for-hire plot

Kent Whitaker, father of Bart Whitaker, a Sugar Land man who is on death row for arranging the murders of his family members in 2003, talks about his efforts for clemency in the case, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, in Richmond, as the execution date, February 22, nears. less Kent Whitaker, father of Bart Whitaker, a Sugar Land man who is on death row for arranging the murders of his family members in 2003, talks about his efforts for clemency in the case, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, ... more Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 53 Caption Close Texas parole board recommends clemency for Sugar Land man slated to die for murder-for-hire plot 1 / 53 Back to Gallery

In a rare victory two days before his scheduled execution, the Texas death row inmate convicted in a murder-for-hire plot to kill his own family won a unanimous recommendation for clemency from the notoriously unsparing state Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Now, the condemned man's fate is in the governor's hands, his lawyers said Tuesday.

Gov. Greg Abbott has two days to decide whether to commute Thomas "Bart" Whitaker's sentence to life in prison or let him die Thursday as scheduled in the Huntsville death chamber.

"Anytime anybody's life is at stake, that's a very serious matter," Abbott said a political rally in Houston on Tuesday evening. "It deserves very serious consideration on my part."

Abbott said his staff was reviewing the parole board's recommendation and that he would base his decision on whether to approve clemency for Whitaker on the "facts, circumstances and the law."

He gave no indication on what he might decide.

"It would be unprecedented for the governor to reject a unanimous board," said Keith Hampton, an Austin-based attorney representing the Sugar Land man. "It's a tough board. When a tough board unanimously decides this, that is really a pretty big deal."

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In recent weeks the case has attracted national attention as the condemned man's father — the only other survivor of the brutal 2003 attack — has argued fervently against his son's execution.

"I have seen enough death — I don't want to see any more," father Kent Whitaker told the Chronicle recently. "I'm going to have the last living member of my direct family taken from me by the State of Texas in the name of justice, and I just don't want that."

Whitaker covered his face after the decision was announced Tuesday in Austin.

"This is beyond amazing," he said tearfully. "I can't tell you."

Clemency from a Texas governor is exceedingly rare. The last time a Texas governor agreed to commute a death row inmate's sentence to life in prison following a board recommendation was in 2007, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry spared Kenneth Foster's life in another case handled by Hampton. It had only happened three times before that.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency in 63 capital cases and recommended it in none from 2012 to 2016, according to a state report.

James Rytting, a Houston-based attorney also representing Whitaker, lauded the board's decision.

"It shows that victims' rights is more than just the right to revenge," he said Tuesday, hours after the recommendation was announced.

But not everyone was pleased with the day's developments.

"It bothers me but I'm not going to set myself on fire over it," said Jeff Strange, a former Fort Bend prosecutor who handled the case. "I've seen other cases that I thought were more deserving."

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The 2003 outburst of violence that ultimately landed Whitaker on death row shocked the tony Sugar Lakes subdivision and initially baffled investigators.

On Dec. 10, just after a celebratory dinner marking his supposed graduation from Sam Houston State University — a milestone that never happened — Bart Whitaker arranged for two friends to wait at the family home for a burglary set-up.

When the family of four returned home from the restaurant, gunman Chris Brashear opened fire as the family walked through the door. He then fled in a car driven by neighbor Steve Champagne.

The brutal attack killed 51-year-old Patricia Whitaker and 19-year-old Kevin. Kent Whitaker was shot in the chest, but survived.

At the outset, the case baffled police. The house didn't appear to have been burglarized, and there were no obvious leads. But then, authorities learned — after reading an article in the Houston Chronicle — that Bart had been thrown out of college on academic probation and was no longer enrolled.

Days later, an acquaintance came forward with details about a past plot, one of at least two that police would eventually uncover.

As the case dragged on for months, Bart fled to Mexico.

When authorities finally collared him and brought him back to Texas, his father hired an attorney to argue against the capital case.

Triggerman Chris Brashear pleaded guilty to murder a decade ago and took a life sentence, while the getaway driver — Steve Champagne — agreed to a 15-year plea deal.

But a Fort Bend jury settled on a death sentence for the mastermind behind the plot, despite his family's objections.

"There is only one person on Earth who is intimate with the murderous attack, the lives and deaths of the other victims, and the life of Thomas Whitaker - Mr. Whitaker's father, Kent. Kent was there," Whitaker's attorneys wrote in their petition filed with the board last month.

"For the rest of us, the case against commutation to a life sentence seems clear. We can't forgive; we have no sympathy. But clemency is not about something so simple as sympathy or as formidable as forgiveness."

Mike Ward contributed to this article, which contains material from The Associated Press.