Mississippi's attorney general has asked the state's top court to set an execution date for Michelle Byrom, who murdered her husband in 1999 and who would become the first woman put to death there since 1944
Mississippi will execute its first female death row inmate in seven decades this week, if the state Supreme Court approves the Thursday date requested by the attorney general.
Attorney General Jim Hood requested Tuesday that Michelle Byrom be executed by lethal injection for the 1999 murder of her husband, Edward Byrom Sr. If the state Supreme Court, which has the final say on executions, confirms the date, Byrom will be the first woman put to death in the state since 1944.
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.
According to the Clarion-Ledger, only 53 women have been executed in the United States since 1900, and if Byrom is put to death, she would be only the fifth woman executed in the past ten years. But former state Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. believes Byrom should get a new trial. “The majority of Mississippians support the death penalty because they think that people get fair trials and they think that they have competent attorneys representing them,”Diaz told CNN. “In this case, she didn’t have either one.”
She's been a bad girl
ReplyDeleteI need more that that!
DeleteI think she deserves it ... And yes I sound mean but she choose to do what she did
DeleteI don't know if she should be executed because she killed one person yes that's wrong but just keep her in jail for life. There are people who kill like 20 people and she might not even have done it
ReplyDeleteJails would take over with all the people just sitting in there if people were just jailed for life. eye for an eye. kill people get killed.
DeleteAll depends on the state in which you commit the crime. Not all states have the death penalty and those that do, inmates on death row will be there for an average of 12 years costing taxpayers 68,000 per year.
ReplyDeleteI believe that she should just be sent to jail for the rest of her life. If the father was abusive as the report states he is the one who caused the woman to lash out in anger. But it is still a crime and she must be punished. Just not executed.
ReplyDeleteIf her husband was abusive to her and her son can't this be looked at as self defense?
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of people in prison that have done far worse than her. Why don't we execute them? She killed her husband because he was abusive. She doesn't deserve to be executed but she should be punished.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough to tell whether she should be executed or not because the son confessed numerous times. I don't understand why the article made such a big deal about how she is a women. If the state law is to execute murderers that means men or women can get executed.
ReplyDeleteI dont think that the death penalty is exactly the right option here. I agree she should be punished but not this severely. There are rapist and serial murderers who get less.
ReplyDeleteShe murdered her husband who was abusive. Therefore, she was defending herself. She's already spent 15 years in jail. I think giving her to death penalty is ridiculous. There's people in jail who have killed multiple people and they just get 20 yrs or life in jail etc. so why give this lady the death penalty who killed her husband because he was abusive towards her.
ReplyDeletethe bottom line is. the death penalty should be used more often. it doesn't matter what your gender is.
ReplyDeleteI took it as self defense. So overall if thats what she was ruled by as well there should be no death penalty. Life isn't always fair though not in all cases.
ReplyDeleteIt's absolutely ridiculous that she's getting the death penalty when there's mass murderers sitting In jail having the time of their life.
ReplyDeleteShe killed her husband more than likely as self defense or her son did for self defense reasons he was obviously abusive to their whole family and I don't think she deserves the death penalty for this when he more than likely deserved it
ReplyDeletePeople can't use self defense as an excuse for murder all the time. It seems like an escape for every criminal act these days
ReplyDeleteShe killed one person and gets the death penalty? That isn't right because there are people out there who do way worse than her but only get sent to like a couple years in jail and get let go and they do it again. They should be the ones who get the death penalty. She should be getting punished but not by the death penalty. Like some of the comments she should just send her to jail for the rest of her life.
ReplyDeletewith such controversy over the defense she received, she should not be sentenced to death, and she should get a re-trial.
ReplyDelete