Almost executed by Mississippi, Michelle Byrom free

IUKA — Michelle Byrom — who came close to being the first woman executed in Mississippi since World War II — emerged free Friday for the first time in 16 years.

Byrom, who maintains her innocence, pleaded no contest to a charge she conspired to kill her husband, Edward Sr., in 1999, and the judge sentenced her to 20 years with four years suspended.

In the same courthouse where she was previously sent to death row, she left a free woman. She had spent 14 of her 16 years of imprisonment on death row.

"It's been a long arduous journey. The outcome is appropriate, given the history of the case," her attorney, John R. White of Iuka, said Friday.

Byrom also has been represented by Alison Steiner, capital defense counsel with the state Public Defender's Office.

She had exhausted her state and federal appeals when The Clarion-Ledger and others pointed out in March 2014 that the jury never saw the letters her son, Edward Jr., wrote, confessing to the murder. The jury also never heard from a psychologist who said Junior gave details of how he killed his father.

Before the month ended, the state Supreme Court tossed out her conviction and ordered a new trial.

Friday's sentencing ends a long road for Byrom, who came out of the courthouse in a wheelchair. The 58-year-old woman has been battling lupus and other health issues.

At her 2000 capital murder trial, Junior testified that Byrom hired "hit man" Joey Gillis for $10,000 to $15,000 to kill Edward Sr. at their Iuka home — money he said she planned to get from insurance proceeds.

The jury convicted Byrom of capital murder for this alleged murder-for-hire scheme.

Convinced her case would be reversed, her defense lawyers at the time introduced no mitigating evidence, which could have included her being a lifetime victim of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

Her stepfather abused her and, by age 15, she was working as a stripper. Edward Sr., who had a special darkened room to watch pornography, reportedly forced her to have sex with other men, which he videotaped.

Without any mitigating evidence, Circuit Judge Thomas Gardner sentenced Byrom to death.

In her appeal to the state Supreme Court, three justices said Byrom deserved a new trial, but five justices upheld her conviction.

Justice Jess Dickinson wrote at the time, "I have attempted to conjure up in my imagination a more egregious case of ineffective assistance of counsel during the sentencing phase of a capital case. I cannot."

Months after Byrom's conviction, Gillis' attorney learned about Junior's statement to the psychologist and challenged the accusations against his client. The defense also learned authorities found gunpowder residue on Junior, rather than Gillis.

Gillis wound up pleading to accessory after the fact for helping Edward Jr. get rid of the gun, and in 2009, he walked free from prison. He has since said in a sworn statement that he did not shoot Edward Sr.

Junior, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit capital murder, has been free since August 2013 on earned supervised release.

When The Clarion-Ledger questioned him by telephone, he denied he shot his father, but when asked about a psychologist's statement that he admitted killing his father, he hung up.

While authorities have insisted they believe Byrom was "the instigator" behind the killing of Edward Sr., Junior's letters tell a much different story.

On the evening of June 3, 1999, Junior grabbed a bottle of Jim Beam and headed to a boat dock near Iuka.

"I sat and watched the night, like a drunken sailor, and the time flew," he wrote. "It was so beautiful. It really relaxed me a lot, so I sat and cried and drank and cried some more."

Back home, his alcoholic and abusive father slapped him and shoved him against a bookcase, cursing him and saying he was a "f—ing mistake to begin with."

The next day, Byrom was in the hospital with pneumonia and other ailments after ingesting rat poison — something she had reportedly done for three years because of a mental disorder.

Later in the day, Junior wrote that his father entered his bedroom, "going off on me, calling me bastard, no good, mistake and telling me I'm inconsiderate" before slapping him and leaving.

"As I sat on my bed, tears of rage flowing, remembering my childhood, my anger building and building. I went to my car, got the 9mm (gun) and walked to his room and peeked in, and he was asleep.

"I walked about two steps in the door, and screamed and shut my eyes. When I heard him move, I started firing."

Deputies found his father dead in the darkened room where he watched porn films.

Junior asked a deputy if his father, who had worked as an electrician for the Tennessee Valley Authority, had a heart attack.

Then Junior told the sheriff that his mother had hired someone to shoot his father and was unaware who had.

The sheriff drove to the hospital, where Byrom was and told her that Junior had told them everything about her hiring somebody.

"He didn't know which person you had got," the sheriff said.

"Hold on a minute," Byrom replied. "I don't know. …"

"Don't leave him hanging out here to bite the big bullet," the sheriff said.

"No, he's not going to," she replied. "I wouldn't let him."

"Well," the sheriff said, "he's fixing to."

"Well, I will take all the responsibility. I'll do it."

After she gave several statements, saying she was involved, deputies arrested her, her son and Gillis.

Junior wrote his mother later, "You are all I have, and they're trying to take that away from me now, but Mom I'm gonna tell you right now who killed Dad 'cause I'm sick and tired of all the lies. I did, and it wasn't for money, it wasn't for all the abuse — it was because I can't kill myself."

Contact Jerry Mitchell at jmitchell@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7064. Follow @jmitchellnews on Twitter.