A Tennessee man who spent three decades on the run before turning himself in to face charges in a 1977 killing is very sick following a stroke and it's unclear if his family can post a $150,000 bond set Monday, his attorney said.
James Brewer, a 58-year-old former machinist, surrendered earlier this month while recovering from a stroke that forced his hospitalization in Oklahoma, where police say he spent most of the years since leaving Tennessee in the late 1970s.
A judge set bond at a hearing in Hohenwald, about 60 miles south of Nashville. Brewer's lawyer, Jerry Colley, said he's not sure if Brewer's family will be able to raise the money.
Lewis County Sheriff Dwayne Kilpatrick wants Brewer moved from the county jail in Hohenwald to a state prison hospital that is better equipped to care for inmates with special medical needs, Colley said. He added there's a waiting list and Brewer, who gets his nourishment through a feeding tube, is still recovering from his latest stroke.
"It really makes it difficult for the sheriff," Colley added.
Brewer disappeared along with his wife, Dorothy, just before he was to stand trial in 1978 for the April 1977 shooting death of Jimmy Carroll in Hohenwald. He's now facing a first-degree murder charge that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life, authorities say.
Authorities have said Brewer was suspicious of Carroll because he thought Carroll was having a relationship with his wife. The original police report says Brewer confronted Carroll at a service station, shot him twice, then drove off and left him to die.
According to authorities, James and Dorothy Brewer lived for a short time after the killing in Nashville before heading to Texas, where Brewer began using another name and his wife, her maiden name.
The couple spent most of their lives since in the same home in Shawnee, about 30 miles outside Oklahoma City. He worked as a machinist at a factory until his first stroke about a year ago.
A second stroke this year may have been the motivation to surrender and finally reunite with family members still in Tennessee, said Colley, who also was Brewer's attorney in 1977.
According to police, a relative had told authorities that Brewer might be ready to talk about the shooting. Authorities say Brewer, who was questioned in the Oklahoma hospital last month where he was recovering from his second stroke, did not confess though he turned himself in a few weeks later.
Brewer's next hearing is set for April 27.
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