BRITTON, Christopher Chad

• 2001-06-17
• 2002-07-31
• 2002-08-01
• 2002-08-09
• 2005-02-04

Name Britton, Christopher Wade (Chad)

TDCJ Number 999426

Date of Birth 08/11/1974

Date Received 08/12/2002

Age (when Received) 28

Education Level 12

Date of Offense

Age (at the Offense)

County

06/17/2001

26

Potter

Race white

Gender male

Hair Color brown

Height 5 ft 8 in

Weight 230

Eye Color green

Native County

Native State

Prior Occupation

Hemphill

Texas

truck driver, equipment operator, laborer

Prior Prison Record N/A

Summary of incident

On 06/17/2001, in Canadian, Texas, Britton shot and killed a 54 year old white male Hemphill County Sheriff's deputy when the deputy tried to serve arrest warrants on Britton.

Co-defendants N/A

Race and Gender of Victim: white male

Death row inmate found dead in cell

Fort Worth Star Telegram

Mon, Feb. 07, 2005

LIVINGSTON, Texas - A death row inmate was found hanging in his cell last week.. Christopher Wade Britton, 30, was found dead Friday, Texas prison officials said Monday.

Guards found Britton about 17 minutes after a security check, shortly after noon Friday. They cut him down, placed him on a gurney and attempted CPR, but could not revive him.

Prison officials said the state Office of Inspector General is looking into the death.

Britton was convicted of fatally shooting a Hemphill County sheriff's deputy who was trying to serve an arrest warrant in June 2001. He arrived on death row in August 2002.

Christopher Wade Britton

Christopher Wade Britton

##Testimony: Britton shot, killed deputy

Posted: Wednesday, July 31, 2002
GREG CUNNINGHAMgcunningham@amarillonet.com

Prosecutors continued to build their case against Christopher Chad Britton as the Canadian man's capital murder trial moved into the second day with dramatic testimony from witnesses to the shooting death of Hemphill County Deputy Jim Bruce Graham.

A string of witnesses testified that Britton visited several people on Red Deer Street in Canadian the morning of June 17, 2001, and was leaving the area when Graham pulled up beside him. Several people on the stand said they had alerted authorities that Britton - who had warrants out for his arrest - was in the area, which brought Graham to the fatal meeting on Red Deer Street to make an arrest.

Kathy Sirmans told the jury how the two men struggled briefly on the street in front of her house and how she saw Britton, still seated in his vehicle, fire the fatal shotgun blast, which she said looked "like fire" exploding out of the barrel.

"I saw Chad reach for a gun out of the seat and then, boom, he fired at point-blank range," Sirmans said.
"Something came out of Jim Graham's head, then he kind of twisted around and just collapsed."

The shotgun blast instantly killed Graham, leaving bystanders with little to do but alert authorities.
The courtroom was in stunned silence when prosecutors played a tape of the 911 call. Jurors and courtroom observers leaned forward, straining to hear the faint sounds as Sirmans called dispatcher Luz Arriaga.

Little was audible on the tape except Sirmans frantically screaming "Oh my God" over and over, then at the end, "It was Bruce Graham."

Britton showed little reaction during the tape or the preceding testimony, keeping his eyes straight ahead and sitting motionless for most of the day.

Britton's attorneys stuck to their plan of demonstrating on cross examination that Britton was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the shooting.

Attorneys Warren Clark and Mark Buzzard repeatedly questioned witnesses about Britton's demeanor prior to Graham's death.

"The thing that was different about Chad that day was his eyes," said Britton's friend, James "Tiger" Henson. "It sounds silly, but he had cold eyes. You can look in a guy's eyes and see."

The defense had its best success in demonstrating their client's mental deterioration with Britton's grandfather, Dondle Fuller, who gave nearly two hours of emotional testimony about how the man he raised as his son had changed so drastically that he feared for his safety.
Fuller told the jury that the day Graham was killed, he left Canadian for Perryton, because he wasn't sure what his grandson would do to him, repeatedly saying, "Chad was not in his right mind."

Clark cut to the central issue for the defense in questioning Fuller.

"Do you believe that during this time frame, before and leading up to this shooting, that Christopher Chad Britton knew the difference between right and wrong?" Clark said.

"I don't believe he did at the time," Fuller said after a prosecution objection to the question was overruled.

Prosecutors countered the claim that Britton was deteriorating mentally in the weeks leading up to the shooting. Prosecutors questioned witnesses about violent incidents in Britton's past, trying to demonstrate a history of violence beginning long before Graham's death.

Testimony will continue in the trial today at 9 a.m. in Potter County's visiting courtroom, where the trial was moved due to publicity in Hemphill County.

"You and only you took away my husband, exactly one month shy of our 28th wedding anniversary," Graham said to Britton as she fought back tears. "You and only you took Sherry's father on Father's Day and a few days before her 25th birthday. There will not be a father to walk his pride and joy down the aisle. You took away the joy that Jim would have had if he had the chance to be a grandfather."

Britton, 27, continued to stare at Lynda Graham, rocking back and forth slightly as she concluded her statement.

"Chad Britton, it was you who cut a wound in our hearts so deep that it will never completely heal," Graham said, openly weeping. "We've been told that time helps ease the pain, but the wound will never heal completely. Now it is you who must face your punishment."

That punishment will be a trip to death row and execution by lethal injection after a six-man, six-woman jury spent three hours and 30 minutes debating Britton's fate.

The jury ruled that Britton presents a continued threat of violence, then decided that there were no mitigating circumstances to warrant a life sentence instead of death.

The courtroom was stone silent as District Judge Steven Emmert imposed the death sentence mandated by the jury's findings. Britton, standing shackled at the wrists and waist before the verdict, never reacted.

District Attorney Rick Roach, who said from the day of the June 17, 2001, slaying of Graham that he would pursue the death penalty, said the verdict was a just one, but not a happy one.

"Our society cannot tolerate attacks on peace officers," Roach said. "We're talking about an assault on the fiber of our society, not unlike what happened on Sept. 11.

"I'm never happy to be involved in the taking of another human's life. The jury had a difficult decision to make, and I know they didn't take it lightly. They made their decision for our society."

Defense attorney Warren Clark said the death sentence was disturbing, but he also supported the jury in making a tough decision.

"I'm disappointed, but I'm not going to quibble with the decision," Clark said. "This is what we call a hard case. When you're dealing with so much evidence against you, it is difficult."

The jury had little difficulty in coming to its sentence, according to three jurors, who asked not to be identified by name.

As the two-week trial went on, the prosecution's mounting evidence of bad acts by Britton was never balanced by defense testimony, the jurors said.

"There were just no redeeming qualities about (Britton)," the first juror said.

"The defense couldn't present anybody to get up there and say much good about him. We were expecting more evidence of mitigating circumstances."

When deliberations began, all the jurors were in agreement about the verdict, the second juror said.

"We didn't have to sit down and convince anybody," he said. "There was no argument. We wanted to be thorough, so we reviewed the evidence, but then everybody felt the same way."

Britton will be transferred to the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, probably in the next few days, then he will take his place on death row, Roach said.

Appeals in death penalty cases are automatic, and Clark said he felt a few issues came up at trial that he could use on appeal.

As for Jim Bruce Graham, friends and family of the slain officer said they were satisfied with the verdict but wanted people to focus on a good man who was lost to the citizens of Hemphill County, rather then the result of the trial.

"Jim was a fine human being," said Texas Ranger Gary Henderson, a friend of Graham's who investigated the deputy's murder.

"Anytime you lose someone of that caliber and character, you just can't replace him. There's a void. We'll go on, but that void will always be there."

Death for Britton

Jury debates for 3 hours

Posted: Friday, August 09, 2002
GREG CUNNINGHAMgcunningham@amarillonet.com

Minutes after being sentenced to death for shooting Hemphill County Sheriff's deputy Jim Bruce Graham, Christopher Chad Britton's eyes welled with tears as Lynda Graham showed pictures of her slain husband and talked about the cost paid by her family since his murder.

Christopher Wade Britton was found dead; hanging in his cell Friday February 4, 2005.

Posted on Mon, Feb. 07, 2005

Death row inmate found dead in cell
Associated Press

LIVINGSTON, Texas - A death row inmate was found hanging in his cell last week.

Christopher Wade Britton, 30, was found dead Friday, Texas prison officials said Monday.

Guards found Britton about 17 minutes after a security check, shortly after noon Friday. They cut him down, placed him on a gurney and attempted CPR, but could not revive him.

Prison officials said the state Office of Inspector General is looking into the death.

Britton was convicted of fatally shooting a Hemphill County sheriff's deputy who was trying to serve an arrest warrant in June 2001. He arrived on death row in August 2002.

Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram: " Christopher Wade Britton suicide "

Note: Richard Cartwright, 999224 has an execution date scheduled for May 19

UNCENSORED FROM TEXAS DEATH ROW
by Richard Cartwright F
ebruary 6, 2005

Sunday
Well, another week went by. A fairly quiet week as far as Death Row F-Pod is concerned. Nobody has had to fade the team or result to any violence to get what they have coming.

One of the benefits of being on F-Pod is when you ask for a ranking officer, you get one.

Also, the higher-ups NEVER put officers on F-Pod that are known trouble-makers and yes there are plenty.

F-Pod is the ONLY pod that has the same officers working all 4 days of all 4 shifts 99% of the time. No females at all, because it is considered either too dangerous for them to work down here or because they are usually the
cause of most of the bullshit we must fact.

Please don’t get me wrong, I like women! I know I’m sounding like a woman-bashing male-chauvinist-pig, but I’m not. I come from a divorce family and was raised by an extremely loving and caring mother.

So, though we might starve on F-Pod, we don’t have to deal with all the bull-crap those on Level I deal with.

If the men and women in administration know they are going to have major problems if their unruly officers mess with you, they keep them at bay.

We found out yesterday, 02/05/2005, that another death row prisoner could not handle the madness that is our world. He had enough of the inhumane treatment and sensory deprivation and ended his own life by hanging himself.
His name: Chad Britton, #999426, AKA Psycho Bob, birthday, August 11, 1974 (30 years old), been on death row since August 12, 2002.

I have never met Chad or even heard of him before now. I guess that is because of the way they house us.

There are friends of mine on the row who I have not seen in over 4 years!!!People I am not even allowed to write. Just more of the sensory deprivation hell we live in.

I would like to offer my condolences to Chad’s family. At least he is at peace, finally.

Well another suicide, another $1,000,000 or so saved in appeals and lethal injection.

I know TDCJ and Texas tax payers love this, eh? God Bless Texas!!! It’s a win/win situation for Texas, eh? They do not have to answer to no one!

Just like when Deon Tumblin, 999275, 28 years old, killed himself on November 2, 2004!! Ching Ching! Another $1,000,000 saved by his suicide, his escape from hell.

It sickens me. Ok so we are on death row! Yes, we are and don’t you think being sentence to death and waiting to die is punishment enough?? Do we need to be physically, emotionally and psychologically?? If you believe that,
than I’m here to tell you, you are by far more cruel and heartless than I ever dreamed to be.

How much trouble would contact visits be? Most death rows in America have them. What a difference that would make! I would not be on F-Pod if my good-behavior allowed me to hold my daughter, hug my mom and kiss my soon-to-be wife (or to kick Missy off in her butt for being a Minnesota
Vikings Fan).

Group recreation? Our dayrooms are big enough for 4 men to recreate at a time.

TV’s?? Hell they complain about cost, but more than a few organizations have agreed to “foot” the bill??

Why are the suicides, insanity and increased number of staff assaults not enough? If an officer dies, would that do it? What will make people sit-up and take notice? Is the deplorable conditions we live in just? Did what the
Nazi did to the Jews just? The Taliban TV murders just?

Hell, why not start to televise all American Death Row Executions?? They want it to be a deterrent, right? You, the people, say it is just, so why not watch it be done. Let your kids watch it with you!

Why not? It is American Justice, no?

Oh, maybe you can vote for the death penalty as long as it is done at a distance! Do you fool yourselves that that way your hands and soul are blood-free!??

Anyone out there want to come watch my execution. I have 4 witness chairs open! Wrie me and I will surely save you a spot.

No I am NOT joking. Come get personal with your blood justice. Free tickets to Justifiable Homicide!! Bring your kids too. Oh no don’t be ashamed, this is justice. Show them what awaits them if they are bad.

A guy who live by Chad and just moved to F-Pod is going to write an article about Chad and what and why it all went down. They were good friends and hopefully, his article will give you some insight on Chad’s personality.

Words from William B in memory of Chad Christopher Britton
#999426:

“02/05/2005

7:08 p.m.-
What’s up everybody! This is Ghost AKA William B, here. I must confess that I have a very sad story to tell you all today.

Yesterday, my very close friend hung himself in his cell. He is dead. His name is Christopher Chad Britton #999426 AKA Psycho Bob.

This has seriously f****d me up. I don’t even know where to begin with this.

Hold on let me think….It is now 7:12 p.m.

As I sat here and stared at this paper for the last 13 minutes I guess I should start by telling you about him.

He tells everybody his name is either Chad or Psycho Bob, but we had our own names for each other. He called me HOSTG (pronounced Hoist, his spelling, not mine). I would call him DACH (which is Chad mixed around).

As you can tell by our numbers, we got here roughly about the same time. I had been here a year and got moved to D-Pod 34 CAGE. I did not know anybody in this section. About 2 days later Dach got moved to D-39 right upstairs.

Well the next day I seen him walking in the dayroom by himself, so I hollered at him. I introduced myself to start a conversation. We quickly became friends and exchanged photos and other info.

He liked to read a lot which I don’t do but he had a good heart. He was always trying to help people out.

I ain’t really got nobody. My family can’t afford to come a lot or send money.

Dach knew I would draw and try to sell my work to get soap and stuff. He would make a spread of homemade tacos everyday and shoot 3 or 4 of ‘em down the run to me.

We are both smart asses with the way we joke. I remember I told him “Hey, buy me a roll of tape and I’ll let you keep ½!”

He used to give me his Lowrider magazine because he knew I couldn’t afford a magazine subscription to anything. He had about 10 or 15 different subscriptions.

I would always draw stuff for him to give pen pals.

It’s f****d up, because the day before he and I spent about 4 or 5 hours outside. Now we are only supposed to get one hour so I will not tell you which guards let us stay out longer, because they could get in trouble. They
knew we were homeboys so they let us chill out and kick it. Everything was cool We were joking and laughing and it was the usual B.S.

The only problem Chad really had was TDCJ. The day before he was doing his usual shit talking about how fucked up this place it. He still gave no indication of committing suicide. In fact he was talking about going off and
fading the team so they would quit harassing him.

Now Chad was on Level II for alcoholic beverages. Yes Dach did indulge a little but he was real cool about it. He wouldn’t get wasted and talk shit to the guards. He would just put his headphones on and jam out.

Damn, the more I write the more I miss him. Hold on, I got a really bad headache and I got to stop crying.

It’s now 8:14 p.m. and yes I was crying. I ain’t afraid to admit it. My f****g homeboy just f---ing died and I am crying about it. If that makes me any less of a man in your eyes than that’s fine by me. But the fact that I
cry still lets me know I have a heart and feelings.

Well, what do you know, a Death Row inmate with a heart! Ain’t that something. Aren’t we all supposed to be heartless cold blooded killers?

Hold on, I’m rambling now. I must be hanging around Shy-Town (Chi-Town, I spell his name that way, because…..well, I just can!! HaHa, you old man!) too, long!

NEWAYS!

Back to Dach! Him and I used to always repeat this line from the move Young
Guns. It goes like the following:

Before I break it down, let me splain it to ya. Young Guns is a Wild Modern Western with Billy the Kid. How they got a ½ Mexican ½ Indian dude named Chavey in the movie and they are in a world of shit. They got the U.S. Army
looking for them, the U.S. Marshals, everybody.

So Chavey says “We must go to the spirit world and the wise spirit will show us the way.”

What it actually is, it they get f---ed up off of peyote.

Well while they are trippin’, Billy the kid jups on his horse backwards and Chavey leads the Regulations through the spirit world village and Curly says ‘how come they ain’t killin’ us, Chavey?’ (Dach would say that part.), and Billy would yell out ‘’Cause we’re in the spirit world, asshole. They can’t see us!’ (I would say that part). Then we would both start laughing.

Now I don’t know for sure Dach did what he did. Only him and God know that. But now that I stop and think about everything, I truly believe in my heart that it was the B.S. that TDCJ put us through that finally pushed him over
the edge.

Hold on, I got to take another break…..

It’s now 02/06/2005, 10:07 a.m. This is hard to write…

Chad told me the day before that he was tired of TDCJ’s continuous harassment. He wanted to start going off and fading the team. Not to heart them, but so far that’s the only way we can figure out how to get the guards to leave us the fuck alone.

I find it utterly sickening that we have to resort to that to die in peace.

The f---ed up part is I got an actual innocence claim in my case. Someone else was identified and the prosecution didn’t let the defense know until the jury had already started deliberating. I have got documents to back all
this up, too. It gets worse, too, but this ain’t about me, it’s about Dach.

My poor friend Dach. His exact words were ‘I’m so Goddamn tired of these mother f---ers taking my shit and blowing it out of proportion. A goddamn sewing needle, my magnets (He used to make speakers, because the headphones
always break). They act like I’m this f---ing terrible, terrible monster, because I got a sewing needle to fix the hole in my socks. I’m tired of this sh--, Ghost. I ain’t no f---ing dog in a cage. I’m sick of this f---ing sh--.’

You know that is the 2nd suicide within the last 3 months. Both people were on Level and the other dude said something about ‘I’m tired of being treated like a canine in a cage’. They called that dude ‘Spotlight’. Now I don’t
know his real name or number, but I bet Shy-Town does.

What all that means, I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.

Dach, if you buy me a roll of tape, I’ll let you keep ½!!! I love you man.

R.I.P.
Christopher Chad Britton 999422
AKA Psycho Bob

Dach, I hop you can read this poem for you, wherever you are. I know you liked it. It is called ‘The Most Important Question.’

‘The Most Important Question’

Confusion,
this must be an illusion,
It can’t be happening to me.
Why can’t you people see?
What’s blinding you?
This legal system is not true.
It’s extremely manipulative,
whatever happened to the people who used to care and give?

Why don’t you practice what you preach?
Remember it is the little ones who we must teach.
Everyday you gripe and complain ‘to take life is wrong’
yet we lead in execution all year long.
What about the innocent?
Or the wrongfully convicted?
A voice in the crowd once said
‘It wasn’t a knife in the stomach, or a gun shot to the head.
It was a needle that cause this person to be dead.’

And you put them there!
On purpose just to do that!
Don’t anyone of you give a crap?
Shouldn’t we stand up and fight?
No! Just sentence them to Death tonight!!!
Oh, my bad, as long as it’s not you, right?

One last though before I’m off and trot away.
For this one single answer, I hope and pray,
Because it is the most important question of all,
Because God only knows, and heaven forbid.
So let me ask you people.
‘What are we teaching our kids?’’

I’ll see you in the Spirit World, Dach!!!.

Shy-Town
It's a bit long. If you want me to shorten it up, I can. It's your call.

With Regards,
Ghost”

The whole point of Uncensored is to try and let you people out there become more personalized with Death Row in general and please feel free to share any and all your thoughts with me, good or bad, happy or sad!

Suzanne, hey there!! A few people have asked one again to send in some articles for death row Uncensored. They really appreciate the opportunity to have a place to be heard. Thank you once again for 1st, your friendship and
2nd for caring enough to start up a web-page for the underdogs.

Note to all who read Uncensored. Suzanne and her husband, James do all this for any and all prisoners in Texas and elsewhere; setting up pen-pal request web-sites to just letting you write and vent to the world. They do this for
FREE!!

They both work and truely have an Army of Kids. They take free time, what little they have and set up sites and rewrite articles. Very time consuming to say the least.

Suzanne always sends copies of finished articles to those who write them.

I say all this to ask this. Any donations to Suzanne or James Cookston would be greatly appreciated. Money, stamps, ink for the computer printer…envelopes, whatever you feel like sending.

Suzanne nor James asked me to write this, but I wanted to try and help them out some.

Suzanne, I don’t have much but I’m enclosing 1 – $0.80 stamp and 5 - $0.37 stamps to help out with what you send to me. I’m sorry it is not more.

Oh, yeah, Suzanne, Good Luck trying to read this article Lizard wrote! I though my handwriting was bad.

source

http://www.deathrow-usa.com/ChristopherBritton.html

http://amarillo.com/stories/080902/new_forbritton.shtml