Former death row inmate may see freedom

Former death row inmate Michelle Byrom, awaiting a new trial in the Tishomingo County Detention Center, could experience her first freedom since the 1999 murder of her husband — if a judge grants her bond.

The 57-year-old woman is now battling lupus and other health issues.

“It would be very expensive to Tishomingo County taxpayers if they had to house someone who suffers from lupus and is confined to a wheelchair,” said longtime defense lawyer John R. White of Iuka. “Historically, counties do not like to have to pay for the medical expenses of those who are seriously ill and pose no threat to society.”

In recent years, health care costs in jails and prisons have skyrocketed. In fiscal 2012, the Mississippi Department of Corrections spent $49.8 million on those costs. That cost now surpasses $68.4 million — over $5 million more than Mississippi spends on its entire judicial system.

Byrom spent 14 years on death row for the June 4, 1999, killing of her husband, Edward Sr. Her son repeatedly confessed to the killing — confessions her jury never heard.

She had exhausted all her appeals and was facing execution when the state Supreme Court tossed out her conviction and ordered a new trial on March 31.

The high court’s decision came eight days after The Clarion-Ledger shared the results of its investigation into the case, which included interviews with her son, jurors and others in Iuka.

Byrom’s attorney, David Calder of Oxford, said the new judge in the case, Circuit Judge Paul Funderburk, when he sets a hearing, could consider whether a pretrial bond would be appropriate.

Byrom has no assets, Calder said. “Even if the judge sets a $10,000 bond, she couldn’t post it.”

He said Byrom suffers serious health issues, including “lupus, arthritis, hip troubles and other complicating things. She does use the wheelchair for mobility.”

At Byrom’s 2000 capital murder trial, jurors never heard any of Junior’s confessions. Instead, they heard him testify she hired “hit man” Joey Gillis for $10,000 to $15,000 to kill Edward Sr.

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

Convinced the case would be reversed, her defense lawyers at the time put up no mitigating evidence, which included “a lifetime of physical, sexual and emotional abuse,” Calder wrote.

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 2006, state Supreme Court Justice Jess Dickinson had called for Byrom’s conviction to be tossed out, writing, “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.”

Dickinson and two other justices concluded Byrom deserved a new trial because Junior’s letters admitting he killed his father were wrongly barred, but five justices upheld her conviction.

In an interview, former prosecutor Arch Bullard told The Clarion-Ledger he still believed Byrom was “the instigator” who “came up with the idea to have him killed.”

But Junior’s letters told a different story, describing how he came home drunk and his father slapped and shoved him, saying, “You were a f---ing mistake to begin with.”

After his father cursed him and slapped him again later, he wrote that he grabbed a 9mm pistol and went in the room where his father was sleeping. When he heard his father move, “I started firing,” he wrote.

Junior also reportedly confessed to a psychologist that he had killed his father — more evidence jurors never heard.

Months after Byrom’s conviction, Gillis’ attorney learned about Junior’s statement to the psychologist and challenged the accusations against his client. Gillis wound up pleading to accessory after the fact.

After the murder, authorities tested the accused, finding gunpowder residue on Junior but none on Gillis.

In 2009, Gillis walked free from prison, and he has since given the defense a sworn statement, saying he did not shoot Edward Sr.

Last August, prison officials released Junior.

Contacted by The Clarion-Ledger, he denied killing his father.

But he wrote another letter to his mother, this one after the trial: “Do you remember the last question your attorney asked me? If I did it? Yes, I did, and Joey helped (in a way), but in so doing I released a chaotic chain of events that are still unraveling.”

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