Chapter 54 Section fifteen

In an appeal to the Federal Court, it was found that the conflict of interest and unethical conduct of Betty Pitts' former defense lawyer Iri Unruss in the case led to her death sentence.The evidence shows that Betty only learned about Jimmy Petz's life insurance and pension when she hired Iri Unrus for fire insurance more than a year after her husband was killed. Iree Unruss agrees to represent Betty Pitts after her arrest.But in this way, he could not appear in court as a witness to prove that Betty did not know about insurance and pensions at all, and had no intention of receiving these inheritances.

Not only that, after learning that Jimmy Pitts' property was frozen, Iri Unrus asked Betty to sign an agreement, agreeing to transfer all her media copyrights to Mr. Unrus to pay the lawyer's fees.As far as the situation at the time was concerned, if the defendant lost the lawsuit, especially if the defendant was sentenced to death, the value of its media copyright would be even higher. In 1991, a federal court judge ruled that Iri Unruth's actions had violated Betty Pitts' rights and ordered a retrial of the case.Texas refused to accept it, and the result of the appeal was to uphold the original judgment.

According to well-informed sources, the appeal filed by the state of Texas not only elaborates on the murder of Jimmy Pitts, but also analyzes the case of Wayne Barker at a large length.The contention of the appeal is that, even without Jimmy Petz's case, the court had sufficient evidence to prove that Betty Petz murdered Wayne Barker for the purpose of occupying the property. There was also a CNN report that said Betty Pitts "did not receive a fair treatment of the law because her lawyers failed to tell the jury about her abuse. Betty's daughters had given Erie Photos of Andrew Betty beaten by her husband, but he never showed them in court."

On this point, Yi Rui Unruth has his reasons.He said that Betty never admitted to him that she had killed someone at the time, so the standpoint of the defense was logically placed on "whether to kill someone" rather than "why to kill someone". On February 24, 2000, Betty Pitts was sent to the execution platform to implement the "lethal injection".According to CBS that night: Today, 62-year-old Betty Lou Pitts became the fourth woman to be executed in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.The "Black Widow" refused the Last Supper and the Last Penance.Betty's family did not attend the execution.

………… The son of Jimmy Don Pitts, Jian Jie, who was present at the scene, told reporters that Betty's demeanor was calm when she was executed, showing no remorse or fear.Doyle Wayne Barker's son Lodney told reporters: "I feel like I've finally lifted a heavy burden." ………… Betty is the 120th person on death row executed in Texas since George Bush Jr. became governor.One hour before the execution, Bush Jr. said: "After carefully reviewing all the evidence in this case, I fully agree with the jury's verdict and fully agree with the Texas Pardon and Bail Board's recommendation that the prisoner's request for 30-day probation be denied. .”

Several anti-domestic violence and human rights groups have written to ask Bush Jr. to pardon Betty Pitts on the grounds that Betty was abused by her father and all five husbands throughout her life and was not heard during the trial. due legal defense. Before Betty Pitts, Texas executed Kara Tucker, 38, on Feb. 3, 1998, for killing a man and a woman with an ax during a 1983 robbery.Kara Tucker was the first woman executed in the state since the Civil War in 1863. Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1982, Texas has executed 207 people, the most in the United States.Betty Pitts was the oldest of them all.She was also the ninth person to be put to death in the state in the turn of the century.It is planned that 13 more people will be executed one after another.

Betty Pitts was two weeks shy of her 63rd birthday when she was sentenced. Betty Pitts is survived by six children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.