USA Today posts, "Planned execution of Miss. woman sparks debate," by Therese Apel of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
Michelle Byrom, 56, is one of two women on death row in Mississippi. The other 48 inmates are men.
Byrom was convicted of firing the shots that killed her husband, Edward Byrom Sr., who by many accounts was abusive to her and his family. If her day comes, she would be the first woman executed in the state since 1944.
The case itself has many twists and turns, with evidence, even confessions, kept from the jury. Byrom's only admittance of guilt was when the sheriff asked her if she was going to leave her son, Edward Byron Jr., to take the blame for the murder, and she replied, "No, he's not going to. I wouldn't let him. ... I will take all the responsibility. I'll do it."
"Mississippi Moves to Execute First Female Convict in 7 Decades," is by Nate Rawlings for Time.
Byrom, who is one of two women on death row in Mississippi, was convicted of killing her husband, who was, according to many accounts, abusive to her and her family. But according to the Jackson, Miss. Clarion-Ledger, Byrom only admitted guilt when the sheriff asked if she was going to allow her son to take the rap for the murder. “No, he’s not going to. I wouldn’t let him. … I will take all the responsibility,” she said, according to the paper.
Byrom’s son, Edward Byrom Jr., confessed to killing his abusive father four times – in three letters smuggled to his mother in jail, and once to a court-appointed psychologist – CNN reports. Byrom’s attorneys, who were trying their first capital murder case, never had the confessions entered into evidence, and Byrom Jr. took a plea deal for a reduced sentence.
The son’s reported confessions are among the chief reasons Byrom’s advocates believe she deserves a stay of execution. The fact that a jury never heard any of Byrom Jr.’s confessions is a “perversion of American jurisprudence,” according to Warren Yoder, executive director of the Public Policy Center of Mississippi.
"Michelle Byrom Did Not Get a Fair Trial," is an OpEd written by Oliver E. Diaz Jr. in the Jackson Free Press. Diaz served on the Mississippi Supreme Court from 2000 through 2008.
In this case, everyone agrees that errors were made. Every appellate judge to review the case of Michelle Byrom has agreed that the trial was riddled with errors. The Mississippi Supreme Court stated in its majority opinion, “we have found in this case that during this trial, there were instances of error committed by the trial court.” The dissenters at the Supreme Court agreed, detailing the numerous errors that occurred at trial. The Supreme Court majority looked at these errors and found them to be harmless. However, in death penalty cases no error can be harmless.
I, unlike most judges, know from personal experience what it is like to be wrongfully prosecuted. In 2003 when this case was before the Mississippi Supreme Court, I was facing my own prosecution at the hands of an overzealous prosecutor. Because of my own wrongful prosecution I was not able to add my voice to the record, and I was not allowed to vote to reverse the conviction of Michelle Byrom.
The Jackson Free Press also publishes a column, "Protect the Innocent: End the Death Penalty," by Donna Ladd.
You can't make it up. A husband horribly abuses his mentally ill wife and his son for years, even forcing her to have sex with others to videotape.
Someone then kills the abuser. A nightmare of legal maneuvering then follows with her accused of paying another man to kill her husband, even as her son confesses to the murder several times, as does she once while under the influence of mind-altering drugs. The judge doesn't allow the jury to see evidence that might have helped her.
Meantime, neither the son nor the supposed hit man goes to prison for murder, and a newspaper quotes the prosecutor saying the alleged contract killer didn't actually do it.
The woman ends up on death row because, as often happens to poor people, her crappy attorneys can't figure out how to keep her from being executed.
"Troubling debate as wife convicted of killing reportedly abusive husband faces execution: Stay or stay the course?" is John Luciew's column in the Harrisburg Patriot-News in Pennsylvania.
Earlier coverage of Michelle Byrom's case begins at the link.
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