Posted on 07/28/2016 8:16:28 AM PDT by Gamecock
ELMORE COUNTY, AL (WSFA) - An Elmore County woman who put her child in a broiling oven in 2002 was denied parole on Tuesday.
Ashley Smith, 14, was forced to grow up too soon with pain and emotional scars that most adults couldn’t fathom.
Elmore County District Attorney Randall Houston says Ashley's last memory of her mother, Melissa Wright, was at 14-months-old.
“Evidence showed that Melissa removed the racks out of the oven, turned it to broil and waited for it to heat up and then put Ashley head first into that oven,” Houston said.
Wright pleaded guilty to attempted murder, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
On Tuesday, Smith, the Elmore County District Attorney's Office and the AG's Office protested the early release of Wright. Painful pictures of Smith’s childhood burn wounds and stretched scar tissue, quickly captured the board's attention.
Smith bravely read a letter to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles about Wright, only identifying her biological mother as Melissa, calling her aunt who has raised her, as mother.
“I can't imagine anyone being in as much pain as I went through mentally and physically,” Smith said. “Now I have a great life thanks to my mom, dad, stepbrothers and sisters.”
Despite her 28 surgeries and lingering medical issues, Houston says Ashley's physical and emotional healing is extraordinary.
“She is an extremely strong child,” Houston said. “How many adults can undergo the number of surgeries she has gone through in her life? That’s just incredible.”
Ashley's older sister asked the board for an early parole, calling Wright a changed woman.
“I was only 8-years-old when it happened, she was different,” Courtney Brunson said. “I seen what happened. I know how she was. She was not herself.”
After a short discussion, the board promptly denied Wright's parole. A board member spoke directly to Smith stating he was impressed with her recovery.
“Good luck to you, we are really sorry for your troubles,” the board member stated.
Houston said it was important to his office that Wright was sentenced to 25 years, and that she serves every day of that sentence.
At the time of Wright’s release, Smith will be old enough to determine if she wants a relationship with her biological mother.
“If Melissa had gotten out today, she could have legally enforced her parental rights,” Houston said. “I think that would have been a horrible thing for Ashley.”
Wright will be up for parole again in 2021.
Speaking of parole, I read that Hinckley just got out.
Hillary supporters applaud!
What a sick world this is!
What a horrible thing to do. You can’t even try to justify this as “post-partum depression” because in those cases the mothers try to kill the child painlessly. This woman decided to torture her own baby to death!
I’m reminded of how the story of Hansel and Gretel ended.
I say add another 50 years onto her sentence....
“I’m reminded of how the story of Hansel and Gretel ended.”
The Muslims would be wise to pay attention to the time-honored German tradition of shoving people into ovens.
I want her to live long enough to get and the daughter stick HER into an oven....
Was her house made of Gingerbread and Candy?
I assume that is the victim. God bless and keep her. I just cannot imagine.....
No, the perp.
No, the perp.
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