TATE COUNTY, MS (abc24.com) - He's a killer who wants to die. That's how those who know Michael Brawner describe the four-time murderer. Brawner is one of three Mississippi inmates set to be executed next month.
He killed his three year old daughter in 2001, shooting her in the head. He murdered the child's mother and both of her grandparents. Some say it's one of the most gruesome crimes in Tate County, Mississippi.
Brawner has been on death row for a decade. If his execution does happen next month, it will be considered swift in Mississippi's justice system. One reason for that is because Brawner's not fighting or appealing it. The murderer has publicly said he deserves to die.
"When you walk in and see something like that, it's something that never leaves you," says District Attorney John Champion, who tried the case against Brawner.
He vividly remembers how the now 34-year-old killed his three year old little girl, his ex-wife, and both her parents.
"On the day this happened he went down to their house," Champion says. All four lived in the small town of Sarah, near Senatobia in Tate County.
"He took a gun with him. He went inside and played with the child for a while. Then he went outside, got the gun, walked back in and killed his ex mother-in-law and ex-wife with the little girl sitting on the couch next to him."
"He gave her a nutter butter candy and sent her to her room. A few minutes later he walked in and put a bullet in her head."
Next Brawner waited for his father-in-law to come home. He killed and robbed him.
Then, "he took the wedding ring off his mother-in-law," Champion says. "He went into Southaven that night and proposed to his girlfriend and gave her his ex-mother-in-law's wedding ring as an engagement ring."
Brawner and his wife had just divorced. At the time friends said he wanted to get back together, but she refused.
During the trial, the murderer held nothing back.
"He made the comment he deserved to die," Champion remembers. "He walked the jury -- and this is something I'll never forget -- he walked the jury through the killing of all four of them."
Champion says it took no time to deliver a guilty verdict and sentence Brawner to death.
If he's executed next month, roughly ten years from the time of his conviction, "that's pretty quick and I plan on being there," Champion says.
He adds as a prosecutor, if he asks a jury to consider the death penalty he feels it's his responsibility to witness the execution.
Brawner's execution date is June 12.
