Andrew Brannan
Andrew Brannan volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1968, served in Vietnam, and received a Bronze Star and two Army Commendation Medals; his lawyer described him as a decorated veteran seriously damaged by the war. Veterans Administration doctors diagnosed him with PTSD in 1984 and bipolar disorder in 1994. The State of Georgia executed him by lethal injection at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson on January 13, 2015, when reports gave his age as 66 or 67. His lawyers argued that mental illness linked to his military service should have spared his life and that the jury never heard the full picture, but the state parole board denied clemency and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop the execution. Protesters gathered outside the prison to oppose the death penalty, and his family visited him beforehand.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. His lawyers argued that his combat-related PTSD and mental illness should have spared him, and that trial counsel failed to present evidence of it; the state parole board denied clemency and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop the execution.
Reported by: Georgia Department of Corrections (the agency that held him); Georgia state attorney general's office; his lawyers; U.S. Supreme Court (court).
News reports (8)
- Georgia Vet With PTSD Is First Person to Be Executed in 2015
- Convicted Laurens County Deputy Killer Executed
- A Vietnam War Vet With PTSD Was Executed In Georgia
- Vietnam vet with PTSD Andrew Brannan first man executed in 2015
- Ga. executes man for killing a deputy in traffic stop
- A Vietnam Veteran with PTSD is the First US Execution of 2015
- 15 high-profile executions in Georgia - WSB-TV
- Executions in Georgia, 1924-2024