After over 30 years on death row, a date has been set for her execution…

Letters from supporters, critics, journalists, and strangers arrived and stopped over time. Appeals were filed, denied, delayed, and revived again.

While the public largely forgot her name, she continued to age—her hair graying, her health declining, her face changing into someone unrecognizable from the trial photos shown decades earlier.

The Long Road of Appeals

Capital punishment cases in the United States are designed to move slowly, intentionally so. Every death sentence triggers an automatic appeals process meant to prevent irreversible errors.

Over the years, her legal team raised numerous issues:

Claims of ineffective counsel at trial

Allegations of prosecutorial misconduct

Questions about jury instructions

Concerns over mental health evaluations