WETUMPKA, AL – The Alabama Pardons and Paroles Board has denied the early release of 40-year-old Melissa Wright, the woman who put her baby in a hot oven back in 2002.In June 2002, Wright removed the racks out of an oven, turned it to broil and waited for it to heat up. She then placed her 14-month-old daughter, Ashley Smith, head first into the oven.
Ashley was rescued by her father who heard her screams and found her inside the oven. While Smith was only in the oven for a short amount of time, she suffered third-degree burns to over 30 percent of her body.
Despite claiming voices told her to put her daughter in the oven, Wright would plead guilty to attempted murder, and be sentenced to 25 years in prison. On Tuesday, after having serving 13 years and 9 months of her sentence, Wright stood before the parole board in hopes of an early release.
Smith was also there to ask the board that her mother remain in prison. She is currently living with her aunt, whom she calls mom, and showed the board pictures of the severe burns she suffered that has required 28 surgeries and left lingering medical issues.
“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.”
Also at the hearing was Smith’s older sister, Courtney Brunson, who asked the board for an early parole for her mother.
“I was only 8-years-old when it happened, she was different,” Brunson said. “I seen what happened. I know how she was. She was not herself.”
Brunson is alluding to the fact that Wright’s mental stability was on a steady decline before she tried cooking her daughter. There were several reports from friends and family of Wright’s increasingly erratic behavior.
“When she wasn’t sick, she was a good mom, a real good mom,” Smith’s father said about Wright. “But she was getting worse. Several times, I found her out in the yard talking about the world coming to an end. That was a big thing with her, the world coming to an end.”
Elmore County District Attorney Randall doesn’t deny that Wright and her family were going through some tough times at the time of the incident or that Wright may have been having some mental issues. His office just doesn’t believe she was crazy when she put her daughter in the oven.
“We don’t believe she was crazy, we believe she was just mean,” Houston said. “While there may be a special place in hell for Melissa Wright, there is no place for her in Ashley’s life or in our community.”
After a short discussion, the board denied Wright’s parole. She will be up for parole again in 2021.
Houston said it was important to his office that Wright serve every day of her 25-year sentence. When Wright is eventually released, they want Smith to 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.”
This article was written by Morbid for The Dreamin Demon - the Internet's self-appointed buzzkill.
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