JACKSON - Michelle Byrom, the only woman in Mississippi sentenced to die, lost an appeal Thursday of her conviction for killing her husband and for recruiting her son in the plot.
Edward Byrom Sr., an electrician, was shot June 4, 1999, with a World War II weapon that had belonged to his father.
In a rare move at her 2000 trial, Michelle Byrom asked Circuit Judge Thomas Gardner, instead of the jury, to decide whether she should serve life in prison or be put to death. Gardner sentenced her to death.
Prosecutors said Byrom killed her husband of 20 years for money.
Defense attorneys argued she had been physically abused as a child and by her husband.
Edward Byrom Jr. testified against his mother during the trial as part of a plea bargain arrangement. He later pleaded guilty to several charges in the murder-for-hire scheme, including conspiracy to commit murder. Gardner sentenced him to 50 years in prison with 20 years suspended.
Prosecutors claimed Michelle Byrom planned to pay a hit man $15,000 with proceeds from the estate that were estimated at more than $350,000.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-3 ruling Thursday, said none of the errors cited by Michelle Byrom justified overturning her death sentence.
Justice George C. Carlson, writing in the majority opinion for the court, said Michelle Byrom's trial was not error-free but that "we have never held that a criminal defendant was entitled to a perfect trial, even with our heightened scrutiny in death penalty cases."
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