In criminal law and torts, we often discuss acts of passion as a defense. The most difficult cases are often heat-of-passion cases. There are few defendants who could claim the cause for such heat-of-passion acts as Timothy John ‘TJ’ Brewer. Brewer walked in on his wife having sex in his son’s room. To make thing worse, the man was his own father — fire chief Wesley ‘Corky’ Brewer. TJ Brewer, a former sheriff’s deputy hit his wife, pistol-whipped his father, and threaten to kill his father with a handgun. He has now pleaded guilty to assault and assault on a police officer.
The couple had four children together and had over Corky Brewer, the fire chief for Moab, for dinner. TJ says that Logan told him that she was putting one of their kids to bed. However, that child came down later and TJ went looking for his wife. That is what he discovered Logan having sex with his father in his son’s bed.
Corky Brewer went home and told his wife what he did. His wife stopped his efforts to grab his gun but he then stabbed himself with knife — causing injury to both his lung and liver. TJ reportedly showed up at the hospital to try to finish off his father. Police say that he was found arguing with his uncle and told them that he wanted to “finish the job.”
Notably, TJ Brewer was jailed on suspicion of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and several other offenses. However, upon learning of the provocation, he was allowed to plead to two class A misdemeanors. The Utah Country Sheriff’s office stated that “what we found was that the charges were not as serious as suspected.” I expect that there were plenty of people admitting that they would have been hard pressed not to kill both Logan and old Corky.
TJ will have to serve 24 months on probation and pay a small fine. Corky resigned from the fire department and TJ resigned from the police department.
What is interesting about this case is that such a horrific scene would raise an obvious question of temporary insanity due to the rage and hurt caused by the betrayal of his wife and father. That could be claimed as a complete defense. However, going to the hospital would have been hard to fit into such a claim. The passage of time undermines the claim of insanity. Moreover, after the Reagan shooting, many states radically reduced the availability of the insanity defense.
What is left of this family is anyone’s guess. My question is what should be done with custody of the children. The problem with the plea is that criminal convictions often result in a loss of custody. Yet, the wife committed a heinous act of betrayal and debauchery in her son’s bed. That would hardly speak in favor of custody. What should now be done with the kids in your view?
The local newspaper quoted her as making one statement: Like father, like son.
Very clever, Darren!
The children should be tested for paternity, in my view.
The custody goes to TJ Brewer; distraught as he may currently be. The mother cannot be trusted. If Corky Brewer is the father of any of the children, he should pay child support to TJ.
What can one say, not even news.
Meanwhile back in Texas…..
Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst calls Allen police to get relative out of jail
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/allen/headlines/20130821-dewhurst-calls-allen-police-to-get-relative-out-of-jail.ece
“However, going to the hospital would have been hard to fit into such a claim.”
I ran across an old case that held tying up the paramour and cutting off his tally whacker is not heat of passion.
Mike,
Exactly. I want to know the chain of thought that led to “This is a good idea.”
This is the type of story that can make ones head explode figuratively. I like Maggie Ringland’s take on this and find her argument persuasive. The ever shrinking legal definition of insanity doesn’t take into account that it can play itself out over a period of time. TJ suffered a trauma of unimaginable proportions. To walk in in the midst of your loved ones infidelity is traumatic in and of itself. To discover that the lover is your father multiplies the trauma many-fold. Betrayal by a loved one is dispiriting to say the least when one learns of it second hand. To walk in on it must intensify the shock to an unbearable degree.
While we don’t have the full background of those involved, the assumption that this dual betrayal by two people who are so emotionally close to TJ was more than enough to destabilize him. Between the act, his reaction and the father being in the hospital I can only imagine his mental state and his anxiety heightened to unbearable levels. All things being equal he was acting with temporary insanity which I think justifies lenience and also should award him custody of his children. All one needs to do is exercise a little empathy and imagine themselves in this situation.
What absolute flabbergasts me with this case is the actions of the wife and her father-in-law (“socer”). What the hell were they thinking? Sure I can imagine that such betrayal occurs time and again in life. But upstairs in the bedroom when you are “supposedly” putting your child to sleep and your husband is downstairs? I would love to examine these people and get their side of what they think they were doing and why the decided to do it when they did? Human insanity fascinates me and this is a good example of why.
OS,
In your example which is quite different I must admit that I would have reacted the same as the officer, who had the awareness to kill the guy outside of his child’s sight.
I do like a good Latin joke, Darren. 😀
Darren,
Priceless!
Sometime back in the late 1970s or early 1980s, a police officer in Mississippi came home from work, finding an older teenager raping his wife, literally. The man was holding a knife to her throat, both of them naked, and he was on top of her committing the rape. Their small child, three or four years old, was standing beside the bed crying and terrified. The officer held the man at gunpoint, marched him stark naked a short distance down the road to the Sunflower River bridge, shot him and threw the body into the river.
He was charged with murder, but even the district attorney told him that if he had shot the man inside the home, he would not have been charged with anything. The officer explained he didn’t want to kill the rapist in front of the child. He sat in jail for a long time. He was seen by doctor after doctor, and spent months on the forensic observation unit at the State Hospital. The psychiatrists and psychologists who saw him were evenly split on whether he was sane or not. He had several diagnoses, depending on which doctor saw him. My assessment was that he was a Borderline Disorder, which in layman’s terms meant he wasn’t completely crazy, but he definitely wasn’t sane either. He sat in jail for a long time, and there were a number of competency to stand trial hearings; something like eight hearings if I remember correctly. Finally, the case was heard. He was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder. He was sentenced on Friday and on Monday was released from jail because he had completed his sentence on time served.
He should never have been a police officer, but borderline disorder cases are chameleon-like and are hard to identify unless you catch them in a crazy spell. They sometimes slip through the pre-employment screening.
Want to know what else is unusual about his case? He left his job as an FAA Air Traffic Controller to go back to school. He was working on his Bachelor’s Degree with a Criminal Justice major, and the police department was allowing him flextime so he could attend classes.
AY, The gene pool in Utah gets better in the south part of the state, every mile from Salt Lake City helps clean it.
Moab is a great town, as is the entire canyon area. This just makes it more interesting. If I were TJ, I would be having paternity tests on those 4 kids!
I would look at the husband’s record as a police officer. that, and other details, are not included in this summary of what occurred therefore making it difficult to really say what I would do. perhaps relatives should be considered for a while to take temporary custody of the children.
As I am keenly aware, there is such a thing as sustained periods of temporary insanity. and, for the officer to lose his entire family and his career over what his wife and his father did seems to me to be entirely too cruel. I would recommend some therapy for this man as well as the entire family. The mother and his father can go to hell in a handbasket as far as I’m concerned. she certainly does not deserve custody. It’s a difficult case, but in the end I would like to see the husband get custody of his kids. I know he temporarily lost his cool in that situation, but his entire life should not be ruined by the actions of his family.
Utah….. It’s the gene pool…. But… In defense of the fireman…. Always ready with hose to put out fires…. The whole lot is despicable….
The article is confusing and I am not sure as to who flung fu.
I have it on good authority that the grammar police are looking for whoever wrote this article. The only plausible explanation that I can speculate is that they were laughing hysterically whilst typing…
Socer Mom
Insanity? Please! Give me a break! This behavior occurs 24/7 in the rural areas of our country (always have, always will).
Do a follow-up story, and I promise you that TJ and wifey will be back together, with the children, and still have Grandpa over for the holidays (but he will have to be gone, before the children go to bed…lol).
What’s the ol’ song? Daddy was a rolling stone?
To borrow from the late Graham Chapman, the whole lot should be sold off for scientific experimentation.
Not the kids.
The elders.
Seriously and I hate to say it, but if remote relatives can’t do the job, it really does sound like foster care – as bad as it can be – would be preferable to that madhouse.