Brandon Wayne Hedrick (February 23, 1979 – July 20, 2006) was an American convicted murderer who was executed by the state of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
in the
electric chair
The electric chair is a specialized device used for capital punishment through electrocution. The condemned is strapped to a custom wooden chair and electrocuted via electrodes attached to the head and leg. Alfred P. Southwick, a Buffalo, New Yo ...
for the 1997 murder of 23-year-old Lisa Crider, who was
kidnapped, robbed,
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
d, and shot in the face. He was the first person electrocuted in Virginia since 2003, when
Earl Bramblett
Earl Conrad Bramblett (March 20, 1942 – April 9, 2003) was an American mass murderer, convicted for the killing of four members of the Hodges family in August 1994 in Vinton, Virginia. Bramblett murdered each family member in their residence b ...
was executed for rape and murder.
Murder
On May 10, 1997, Hedrick and Trevor Jones spent the evening drinking, smoking
crack cocaine
Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be Smoking, smoked. Crack offers a short, intense Euphoria (emotion), high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Sub ...
and
marijuana
Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...
, and employing the services of four
prostitutes
Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-p ...
. After driving the last two prostitutes back to downtown
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...
, Hedrick and Jones saw Lisa Yvonne Crider. 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 traveled with Hedrick and Jones back to Jones's apartment, where Jones paid Crider $50 to have sex with him. Afterward, Hedrick retrieved a
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...
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 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. Afterward, the two men decided to kill Crider, fearing retaliation from her boyfriend.
They continued driving until daybreak when Jones stopped the truck near the
James River
The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...
. 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
Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...
.
Trial and appeals
Hedrick was convicted of capital murder in the commission of
robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...
,
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, forcible
sodomy
Sodomy (), also called buggery in British English, principally refers to either anal sex (but occasionally also oral sex) between people, or any Human sexual activity, sexual activity between a human and another animal (Zoophilia, bestiality). I ...
, abduction, and use of a firearm in the commission of murder. During the sentencing phase of his trial, a court-appointed
clinical psychologist
Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...
testified 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
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...
." The jury recommended that he be
sentenced to death
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
, 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
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
, depravity of mind, aggravated battery to the victim beyond the minimum necessary to accomplish the act of murder." The Circuit Court agreed and sentenced Hedrick to death on July 22, 1998.
In 2001, a judge ruled that Hedrick had received adequate legal representation during his original trial and declared that Hedrick would not be given a new trial. In 2002, a judge ordered a mental competency evaluation for Hedrick after he claimed he wanted to drop his appeals. Hedrick repeatedly changed his mind on the matter.
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
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...
as their execution method. Hedrick's lawyers indicated that he chose the electric chair because he feared complications related to the drugs used in the lethal injection. After Governor
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
declined to intervene, Hedrick's execution proceeded.
On July 20, 2006, Hedrick was executed in the electric chair at the
Greensville Correctional Center
Greensville Correctional Center is a prison facility located in unincorporated Greensville County, Virginia, near Jarratt. The prison, on a plot of land, is operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections. "901 Corrections Way Jarratt, VA ...
in
Jarratt, Virginia
Jarratt is a town in Greensville and Sussex counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 652 at the 2020 census. In 1848, Jarratt was a stop on the Petersburg Railroad. Jaratt was incorporated in 1938.
Geography
Jarratt is locat ...
. He was pronounced dead at 9:12 p.m. His
last meal
A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be.
Contemporary restrictions in the United States
Contrary to the common belief t ...
was pizza with cheese, sausage and hamburger, french fries with ketchup, bacon, chocolate cake, and apple pie. In his final statement, he said, "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."
See also
*
Capital punishment in Virginia
Capital punishment was abolished in Virginia on March 24, 2021, when Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill into law. The law took effect on July 1, 2021. Virginia is the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty, and the first southern state in Uni ...
*
Capital punishment in the United States
In the United States, capital punishment (also known as the death penalty) is a legal penalty in 27 states (of which two, Oregon and Wyoming, do not currently have any inmates sentenced to death), throughout the country at the federal leve ...
*
List of people executed in Virginia
This is a list of people executed in Virginia after 1976. The Supreme Court decision in ''Gregg v. Georgia'', issued in 1976, allowed for the reinstitution of the death penalty in the United States. Capital punishment in Virginia was abolished by ...
*
List of people executed in the United States in 2006
Fifty-three people were executed in the United States in 2006. Twenty-four of them were in the state of Texas. One ( Brandon Wayne Hedrick) was executed via electrocution. The states of California, Montana, Nevada, and North Carolina, have not car ...
*
List of white defendants executed for killing a black victim
Executions of white defendants for killing black victims are rare. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States in 1976, just 21 white people have been executed for killing a black person (less than 1.36 percent of all execu ...
*
Race and capital punishment in the United States
The relationship between race and capital punishment in the United States has been studied extensively. As of 2014, 42 percent of those on death row in the United States were Black. As of October 2002, there were 12 executions of White defendant ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedrick, Brandon
1979 births
2006 deaths
21st-century executions by Virginia
21st-century executions of American people
American people executed for murder
American people convicted of rape
American people convicted of sodomy
People convicted of murder by Virginia
People executed by Virginia by electric chair
Violence against women in Virginia