Before diving into the case, let me begin by saying that domestic violence is not just against women. Men are abused as well and because they are men, they are hardly ever taken seriously. There have next to no resources for them and because they are "big, strong men" they can just fight back right? Wrong. This is the story of an abused man who just could not take anymore. He snapped. This case was featured on the new A&E series Accused: Guilty or Innocent?. I binged watched this entire first season within 24 hours. This was the first episode...
On a cold January morning in 2017, the abuse that Chandra Lawson had been dishing out to her husband for years, came to a tragic end. A few months before this day, Bryan and Chandra Lawson had put security cameras throughout their home due to a robbery that had taken place in the neighborhood. Those cameras would prove valuable to showing what Bryan and his young son had been going through and tells the tale of that day. In the back bedroom, sweet little Bradyn was asleep in the bed and in the living room, you can see on the security cameras Bryan in a recliner with Chandra hovering over him beating him with her fists and yelling in his face. While the cameras have no sound, Bryan later makes a list for his attorney of the things that she is saying. Saying things like " Anyone who comes in this door is going to die" , " I am going to kill you and kill Brayden". And the worst thing..." I will bash your brains in and make your mom have to clean them up". This is after she retrieved a bat from behind their couch. The camera in the bed shows Brayden start to wake up (his is only 2 years old) and hold his ears to keep from hearing the yelling. I cannot imagine how scared that precious little boy was. After getting the bat, Chandra kept threating to hit Bryan in his disabled foot ( he was born with an extreme club foot). You see him jerking back that foot to try and save it.
She finally leaves the living room to go into the bedroom to get herself and Brayden ready for the day. While she is doing that, you see Bryan grab a gun hidden behind the sofa. To me, it is apparent that behind the couch is where they stored or kept weapons. Why I don't know but the bat and the gun were both pulled from there. He stuck it in the pocket of the hoodie he was wearing and sat back down in the chair. Chandra returns to the living room with Brayden in tow and continues to yell. She goes back up to Bryan again and starts to hit him again with her fists. All while screaming that she is going to kill his son because he is punishment and ruined her life. As she continues to hit him, he fires the gun 3 times at her. She falls to the floor and he grabbed Brayden to move him away. Yes, he was standing right beside his mom when she was shot. To me, Bryan shot her in self defense of him and for his son. He immediately called 911 and told them that he could not take no more and had killed his wife.
Bryan was not arrested right away. While at the police station, the detectives received a call from a gentleman stating that he was the REAL father of two year old Brayden. He stated that he has always known but that he and Chandra had kept it a secret. Bryan and Chandra both had drug issues. Chandra's started when she was in the National Guard and during training she broke her neck. She began to get addicted to the pain medications given to her and then spiraled out of control. Bryan's drug issues started then as well however, he went to rehab. When in rehab, Chandra called him and told him that she was pregnant. He decided then and there he would never touch drugs again and he never did. Apparently, while he was attempting to recover in rehab, she was cheating on him. He had to hear hours after killing Chandra that the son he loved and that was his for two years was actually another man's baby. It disgusted the hell out of me the way she treated Bryan and the lies she told him.
Bryan was eventually arrested for Chandra's murder and while his defense attorney was preparing for trial, he requested footage from the cameras in the house that day that the prosecution had been with holding. After having a hearing, the prosecution handed over the footage and as Bryan had said, Chandra was on film shooting up in their bed. According to Bryan, she would shoot up at least 3 days a day. Chandra was bipolar and on medication for that, which in turn, would interact with her medication and temper , making her very violent.
After preparing for trial, the prosecution offered Bryan a deal. He would plead guilty to Voluntary Manslaughter, get 15 years but only have to serve 3 before getting the chance to be paroled. Watching the show, this broke my heart. It broke me because his mother and Chandra's mother were jointly raising his little boy. He was not allowed to see him and apparently he was very scared that if he took this case to trial, Chandra's mother would take Brayden away his mother and the family would never see him again. He had bonded with his son even though he now knew that he was not the biological father. That did not matter to Bryan. He wanted to be able to keep his son with his mother. Instead of taking the case to trial where he probably would have been exonerated, he took the plea. All so that he could see his son again. This man is a hero. he saved his son and himself from being beaten and killed and he got put in jail for it. UN FUCKING BELIEVABLE!
I also feel like it's worth mentioning that Chandra's older son, Liam, came to see Bryan and while he felt that Bryan did need some sort of punishment for killing his mother, he understood why it happened. He stated in the show that she was mean and had a temper. I am sad that these kids lost their mother. I really am, but she had an addiction that she refused to get help for and mental disease that made her abusive. In my opinion, she got what was coming. I really hope that Bryan is paroled after 3 years. I hope he gets custody of his son. And I hope that they live happily ever after.
コメント