Inmate Launches Letter Campaign From Death Row Claims Innocence In 1983 Double Murder

An inmate on Idaho’s death row who claims he is an innocent man has launched a letter-writing campaign to gain his freedom, while implicating his brother.

In what is believed to be his first public statement since his first-degree murder conviction in 1984, Mark Henry Lankford said Wednesday it was his brother, Bryan Stuart Lankford, who alone killed U.S. Marine Capt. Robert Bravence and his wife, Cheryl, of El Paso, Texas, on June 21, 1983.

“I’m going to beat this case. I wasn’t even there. I’ve said that from the beginning,” he said. “They said I killed two people. I did not kill anybody. They owe me two people if I have to die.”

The brothers from Texas were convicted by separate Idaho County juries in 1984 and were sentenced to death by 2nd District Judge George R. Reinhardt.

Bryan Lankford’s death sentence was overturned and he was re-sentenced to life. But that sentence also has been overturned and he is awaiting a third sentencing hearing.

Mark Lankford, 39, remains on death row and has started a letter-writing campaign, urging people to contact Reinhardt, Gov. Phil Batt and other officials.

Lankford said his attorney, Andrew Parnes, is preparing a legal brief asking for a new trial.

During the 1984 trials, Bryan Lankford, 36, testified he and his brother had been camping in the Idaho County forest.

The brothers spotted the Bravences who had pulled into a campground for the night. Bryan said he held a shotgun on the couple while Mark beat them over the head with a nightstick.

The two then loaded the bodies into the Bravence van, he said, and later dumped them off near where Mark’s car was located.

After the trial, Bryan twice recanted his story. Later, he withdrew his claims and stood by his trial testimony Mark alone killed the Bravences.