Lets assume that the police and prosecutors were correct back in 1999 and 2000. Lets assume that this severely mentally ill, serially abused woman had conspired with her son to kill their abuser. Lets assume that Dr. Lott was wrong about his conclusion that Edward Jr. was being honest when he confessed to killing his father without his mothers help. Lets assume that Michelle Byroms trial was fair even though the trial judge failed to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense. Even if you assume all these things the execution of Michelle Byrom still would be a monstrous injustice. Thats because both of the people who actually could have shot Edward Sr.—his son or Gillis, one of whom indisputably was the trigger man—are both now out of prison. Mississippi released Gillis from prison in 2009—he served less than a decade after making a deal with prosecutors. And Mississippi released Edward Jr. from prison last year. He, too, got a sweetheart deal for purporting to rat out his own mother even though state attorneys now say he contradicted himself. Mississippi repeatedly altered its version of this crime, in other words, to try to maximize the punishment to the one person who didnt kill Edward Sr.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 14:53:16 +0000