NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - A Tennessee woman who sat on death row for a quarter-century for the killing of her husband was released from custody on Friday.
Gaile Owens, 58, was greeted by a small group of friends and family when she was released from the Tennessee Prison for Women.
Her release plan was approved and she will be reporting regularly to a paroleofficer here in Nashville, said Melissa McDonald, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, which last week approved the release.
Owens had been scheduled to die by lethal injection September 28, 2010, but that sentence was commuted by then Governor Phil Bredesen, which made parole a possibility.
Bredesen said at the time that he spared Owens after a review showed she had admitted her guilt and that other people who committed similar crimes generallydrew lesser sentences. Bredesen also noted that she had accepted a conditionalplea agreement for life imprisonment prior to her original trial.
Bredesen said that while Owens' claims that she had been physically abused by her husband were inconclusive, she may have been suffering from battered woman syndrome, which was another factor in his decision.
Full article: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/tennessee-woman-released-25-years-death-row-162640334.html
Gaile Owens, 58, was greeted by a small group of friends and family when she was released from the Tennessee Prison for Women.
Her release plan was approved and she will be reporting regularly to a paroleofficer here in Nashville, said Melissa McDonald, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, which last week approved the release.
Owens had been scheduled to die by lethal injection September 28, 2010, but that sentence was commuted by then Governor Phil Bredesen, which made parole a possibility.
Bredesen said at the time that he spared Owens after a review showed she had admitted her guilt and that other people who committed similar crimes generallydrew lesser sentences. Bredesen also noted that she had accepted a conditionalplea agreement for life imprisonment prior to her original trial.
Bredesen said that while Owens' claims that she had been physically abused by her husband were inconclusive, she may have been suffering from battered woman syndrome, which was another factor in his decision.
Full article: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/tennessee-woman-released-25-years-death-row-162640334.html
