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(ARCHIVE PHOTO | THE GRAHAM LEADER) The families and survivors of Kendrex White’s stabbing spree speak to the media after the judge’s ruling of not guilty by reason of insanity in December 2018. Shown from left to right are former Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore, Harrison’s brother and mother John and Lori Brown, survivor Stuart Bayliss and his parents Shellane and Paul Bayliss. -
(DAVID FLYNN | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO) Candlelight illuminates those who packed the Graham High School Stadium where GHS students as well as family and friends of Harrison Brown met in his for a vigil May 2, 2017. Brown was killed by Kendrex White in a stabbing spree at the University of Texas at Austin. -
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS) Graham High School Class of 2016 graduate Harrison Brown died from injuries sustained in a stabbing spree in 2017. Kendrex White, who perpetrated the spree, is having a hearing next week to determine if he is released from a mental health facility in Kerrville.
After being found not guilty by reason of insanity for the May 2017 fatal stabbing of Harrison Brown, Kendrex White will have a court hearing next week to determine if he is released from a forensic mental health facility.
White, who was diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder, was ruled not guilty by reason of insanity Dec. 11, 2018 in Travis County. Following the ruling, he was transferred for treatment to North Texas State Hospital in Vernon and later to Kerrville State Hospital.
A court hearing will be held at 10:15 a.m. Thursday, July 17 at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center in Austin to determine the next steps for White.
Harrison Brown was a 2016 graduate of Graham High School who was attacked in a stabbing spree along with three other students at the University of Texas at Austin in 2017. Of the four that were injured by White, Brown was the only who died due to his injuries.
Harrison’s mother, Lori Brown, has been his advocate for years and said when she received the news about the hearing, she had one pressing question – “What has changed?”
Brown said she received the call in the beginning of June from the district attorney’s office in Austin and they explained what the hearing would entail.
“We were a little shocked that it’s only been eight years,” Brown said. “When they came down with the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, we were not 100% happy with that, but they told us that because his mental illness was so severe he would probably never get out of Vernon, the maximum security facility. He was in Vernon for eight months and then he was moved to Kerrville.”
Brown said during the hearing that White will make an appearance with his doctors to argue that he is no longer a harm to himself or anyone, with annual prior evaluations stating the opposite.
“Now his doctors feel like he’s ready to go into a probation facility, which is somewhere in Bexar County, which would be San Antonio. He will be able to come and go and he will have to report daily (and) somebody there will be making sure that he’s taking his medication. Then from there, the next step will be his total release into the public,” she said.
Having the opportunity only eight years after being placed into a forensic mental health facility to be released to the public was something unexpected to Brown and her family.
“We were also told that if he did get out of Vernon, it would be decades before he would ever get out or start to move through the system,” she said. “We were shocked, and our question was ‘What’s changed? What’s happened here?’”
Similar to the 2018 trial for White, Brown will have a picture of Harrison she will hold in the audience. She said the proceedings will be between White's doctors and defense attorneys and the prosecution’s mental health professionals and experts.
“(My son) John and I will be there. We are not allowed to say anything. It’ll be between the defense and the prosecution, and the judge will make the final decision,” she said. “It is a different judge than the judge we had eight years ago. ...I’m just hoping and praying that this doesn’t happen. ...We could all literally be on the street and come face to face with this man one day, which is so scary.”
The Austin American-Statesman spoke with Brown at the beginning of July and received a statement from the Travis County District Attorney’s Office regarding the hearing.
“The Travis County District Attorney’s Office opposes the potential modification of Mr. White’s inpatient commitment to outpatient status,” the office said in a statement to the Statesman. “We look forward to the upcoming hearing, during which we will request that he continue to receive inpatient mental health services to ensure the safety of our community.”
SafeHorns, a nonprofit advocacy organization created and run by UT Austin parents, was established due to the April 2016 murder of Haruka Weiser. A little over a year after the creation of the organization, Harrison was killed on campus.
“This nonprofit was put together to help students find a safe place (and) get answers to questions,” Brown said. “They’ve implemented a lot of wonderful changes on the campus, and they have been very instrumental in putting information out there to the public in regards to this. They are encouraging any and everyone to come to the hearing.”
For Brown, she said seeing Harrison’s friends get married and have families reminds her of the future that was torn away from her. Her son John has three children and Harrison was able to be an uncle for a short period for one.
“He was so proud of that little boy and how proud would he be now to have another nephew and a niece,” Brown said. “The middle one was named after Harrison, they call him Harry. We talk about Uncle Harrison all the time and they’ll even ask John or myself, ‘Tell me a story about Uncle Harrison.’”
The community of Graham has been supportive of Brown and her family since the beginning and are continuing their support. Regardless of the decision of the hearing, Brown said that she wants Harrison’s memory to live on.
“I don’t want him to be forgotten. There’s just way too much good there and things that would make you smile,” she said. “Every year, when May 1 rolls around, I’m just amazed at the support and the love and the prayers and the people that reach out to me. It just means the world to me. It really does.”
