Andrew Cohen Looks at the Byrom Case in Mississippi

"Why Does Mississippi Want to Execute Michelle Byrom?" is Andrew Cohen's post this afternoon at the Atlantic.

I don't know which Byrom confession I believe but it doesn't matter. The woman Mississippi wants to execute this week did not get anything close to a constitutionally fair trial. The execution of this woman, in these circumstances, would send a series of chilling message from Mississippi to the rest of the world. It would say the state's justice system still won't acknowledge the import of domestic abuse. It would say that the constitutional right to effective counsel is meaningless. And it would say that the justice system is more interested in protecting its own than in seeking the truth about what really happened to this wretched family.

Earlier coverage from Mississippi begins at the link.