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America's longest-serving female inmate, 69, walks free
49 years after strangling 15-month-old baby to death (Daily Mail)
49 years after strangling 15-month-old baby to death (Daily Mail)
much more, with pictures, at link aboveThe country's longest-serving female inmate has been freed - 49 years after she was convicted of strangling a 15-month-old baby to death.
Betty Smithey, 69, walked out of the gates of Perryville state prison in Goodyear, Arizona with the help of a cane on Monday afternoon, just hours after she appeared at a parole hearing.
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Smithey said she decided to change in 1983 when she received a letter from Emma Simmons, Sandy Gerberick's mother, saying she had forgiven her for the crime.
'She made me feel that I wasn't a monster,' Smithey said. 'I felt if she could forgive me for taking her child's life, I could forgive myself. It was my responsibility to try to become a better person than I was.'