Betty Smithey Released From Prison at 69, After Killing 15-Month-Old
Betty Smithey, the longest-incarcerated woman in America, has been released from prison after serving time for a crime that she committed over 49 years ago.
At the age of 20, Smithey was found guilty of the first-degree murder of a 15-month old girl. Smithey had been hired a week before as a live-in baby sitter. On New Year's Day in 1963, the baby was found strangled and after a court trial, Smithey was convicted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Smithey threatened to take her life and proved to be a difficult inmate at first.
Between 1974 and 1981, Smithey escaped four times from three different prisons. However, now, at the age of 69, Smithey appears to pose far less of a threat and according to her lawyer, has spent many years transforming her behavior.
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Psychiatrist Elizabeth Kohlhepp testified on Smithey's behalf during the hearing for her release, explaining that Smithey had suffered from years of abuse and neglect as a child after going in and out of foster homes. She attributed Smithey's crime to the fact that her background made her ill-equipped to deal with stressful situations.
Finally, after two recommendations from the board for clemency in previous years only to be denied, Smithey has now been granted her freedom.
"I really see no value in keeping you in prison any longer. I really see no value in keeping strings on you any longer," Parole Board Chairman and Director Jesse Hernandez told Smithey before voting to grant her discharge.
Despite the fact the most of her life is now behind her, Smithey still considers herself a lucky woman.
"It's wonderful driving down the road and not seeing any barbed wire," Smithey told the Arizona Central paper while heading towards the home where she will not stay with her niece. "I am lucky, so very lucky."
