Mississippi Supreme Court orders new trial for woman following her son's murder confession

A 57-year-old Mississippi woman is off death row after the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial for her following her son's confession to the murder that landed her in jail, CNN reported on Monday.

The high court reversed Michelle Byrom's capital murder conviction for killing her husband, Edward Byrom, in 1999. She had been scheduled to die via lethal injection on March 27, despite the couple's son, Edward Byrom Jr., contradicting his own testimony.

While he testified that his mother committed the cime, Edward Byrom Jr. wrote letters confessing to shooting his father to death while he slept. Jurors in the trial never saw the letters.

The Associated Press reported that Circuit Judge Thomas J. Gardner, who oversaw Michelle Byrom's original trial, will not preside over her re-trial. In the original trial, Byrom asked Gardner to decide whether to sentence her to life in prison or to be put to death. He chose the latter.

Byrom's attorneys also reportedly have new evidence to introduce in her case.

[Image: "Prisoner In Handcuffs," via Shutterstock]