Gaile Owens, Former Death Row Inmate, Freed From Tennessee Prison

By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Memphis woman who spent 26 years on death row and came within two months of being executed for hiring a stranger to kill her husband was freed Friday from a Tennessee prison.

Gaile Owens, 58, was greeted by a small group of supporters outside Tennessee's Prison for Women. Owens was all smiles as she pushed a yellow laundry cart containing her belongings past the prison's razor-wire fence to freedom.

Owens was sentenced to die in 1985, but her death sentence was commuted to life in prison last year and she won parole last week.

Once out, she gave her son, Stephen Owens, a long embrace, as well as a former cellmate who is now free.

Owens issued a statement before leaving. She said she feels a "responsibility to give back to those who have given so much to me."

"I'm looking forward to leading a quiet, private, but productive life," Owens said. "But more than anything, I'm looking forward to being a mother and a grandmother. I can't wait to see my grandchildren, and to fulfill my dream of walking in the park with my family."

Stephen Owens, who is now grown and his children of his own, said he realized the transition for his mother was not going to be easy.

"This will be a slow process, but we will focus on one day at a time," said Stephen, adding that's he's looking forward to spending the rest of the day with his mother. "The days ahead will be completely new and different for all of us; but as always our confidence and trust are in God."

Supporters had urged her release, claiming she was a battered wife who didn't use that defense because she didn't want her young sons to know about the physical and sexual abuse.

SEE PHOTOS FROM GAILE OWENS' RELEASE (story continues below):

John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and an Owens supporter, said the first time he met her nearly three years ago, he could tell she was sincere and fearful of the future.

"Clearly she was afraid she was going to die," he said Friday.

Owens' sentence was commuted to life in prison in July 2010 by former Gov. Phil Bredesen. He acknowledged the abuse claims but gave a different reason for his decision to spare her life. Bredesen said prosecutors had agreed not to seek the death penalty if Owens pleaded guilty but then put her on trial when her co-defendant wouldn't accept the deal.

Sidney Porterfield, the man she was accused of hiring to kill her husband with a tire iron, was also sentenced to death. He is still on death row.

At the time Owens was imprisoned, a life sentence meant serving 30 years and she was eligible to be released now because of good conduct.

Many of the supporters who greeted Owens when she was released said she had a strong faith while incarcerated and was heavily involved in prison ministry.

Marshall Chapman, a singer/songwriter and supporter, acknowledged Owens committed a terrible crime, but said she believes in redemption.

"And I feel like she's paid her debt to society," Chapman said.

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Comments

[kerryandjanie]

09:05 PM on 10/17/2011

I worked with domestic violence victims as a social worker; we placed women in safe houses and a worker accompanied them to court to get what (in my eyes) is a worthless restraining order. I told my co-workers that if my husband or boyfriend hit me, it would happen once; I would figure out what buttons to push and would set him up so he left marks on me and then blow his brains out. Actually told my husband this before we were married when I told him men did not hit their wives or their children in my family, or they would either die or wish they had. My supervisor begged me to never suggest to clients that they kill their abusers or they would tell the courts, "my caseworker told me to". Women and children are in the most danger when they fianlly try to leave; that's when the guy most often flips and kills them.

[slhayne]

09:19 AM on 10/14/2011

Hmmm Wonder where my comment went to Adam Huffington Post? I'd like to know

[mm3264]

11:13 PM on 10/17/2011

probably wasn't worth the space

[Laura Price]

09:22 AM on 10/12/2011

Theres some racist people please if you look it up there has been black women freed this isnt the slave era everyone is equal no matter what their color is sure we might all have different skin colors but you get cut we all bleed the same color we all have brains and we all breathe air. Racist people themselves are responsible for a lot of deaths such as kkk and racist people of all colors. People Her skin color has nothing to do with it. Get off your high horse white people are no better than blacks or any other color. Wife beaters child abusers and racist people should all share the same fate. None of us are God so who are we to judge anyone!

[Hi Everyone]

09:01 AM on 10/12/2011

According to this article, it remains a matter of record that she hired someone to kill another person. She was freed only because she served enough time to earn parole.

Nothing in this article indicates the victim did anything to deserve to be beaten to death with a tire iron. The victim's name isn't even revealed.

Is this really worth celebrating?

[o0oooooo0o]

05:49 AM on 10/18/2011

Exactly. Someone got paroled.. big eff'n deal.

[blruop]

08:22 AM on 10/12/2011

(continued from previous comment...)

Never did my mother contemplate having my father murdered, but if that didn't work, who knows if that would have been an option. I pray not. But unless you have known abuse, you really can't understand how it traps you.

[ktthrp6]

12:38 AM on 10/18/2011

I'm with u on that. I have been abused, mentally and very badly physically, and I understand. If you haven't been there, you really can't give an understanding opinion because there is so much that goes into how an abused person feels and thinks. And more than anything, I understand this woman's not saying anything about the previous abuse so that her kids wouldn't know. I never reported my abuse, I never let my kids know. I wouldn't let them around him, so they didn't see much. It broke my heart when my older son, who was about 3 at the time, said something about his dad choking me because I had thought he didn't see it. It's not an easy life, not after the abused wife kills her husband, either, because that defense of spousal abuse hasn't been working too well. The juries either don't believe the defendant or think they could have handled it better and done something else. Imagine that- the juror should just go back in time and get beat up for a while, get told she is nothing and no one will ever want her, break down her self-esteem if she had any, and just drive her to her witt's end and she kills him. But it's the juror this time, did she just walk away, as she voted the wife SHOULD have done? We'll never know because unfortunately it can't work that way.

[blruop]

08:15 AM on 10/18/2011

I am so sorry to hear about your plight. Thank God you are now safe.

You know what the hardest thing about my mother's abuse was? My father was known socially as a "great guy!" He was well respected and recognized. If they only knew.

I pray you and your children have a bright hope for the future. I also pray your ex gets the help he needs to mature into the man who should be. I say that because I have learned that abuse is really just and adult temper-tantrum. "I can't get what I want, so I will force you to appease my want." That's all it is. That is why anger management is so important.

It is unfortunate, but women also abuse. I don't only blame men in this. An abuser is any individual who implements manipulation and degregation to mentally and physically force the abused into their will.

Good luck! Stay safe.

[blruop]

08:22 AM on 10/12/2011

(continued from previous comment...)

Now I will say this, my mother was raped, battered and nearly killed over 18 years of a bad marriage. As children, ages 5-13, we would huddle in a closet just so my father would not find us. Why didn't my mother leave him? Because she had NO WHERE to go. Her self esteem was gone, she had no self worth. She was hard of hearing (because my father beat her so bad), so she could not waitress, she had no high school diploma, let alone a college degree. The only thing she had in her favor, was that my father was sleeping with another woman. After an event where my father went after my brother for protecting my mother, my mother took a chance at something that she wasn't sure would work, but she was desperate. You see, when you are abused, you really do learn survival modes, and how to tip toe around subjects. One night, she merely suggested to my father that since he wanted to have a girlfriend, he could have her, my mother would not be a problem for him, she'd let him go, no kids, no responsibilities, just go. I don't know how she managed to get my father to agree to it, but it worked. They divorsed.

(continue to next comment...)

[Anne Marie313]

04:07 PM on 10/11/2011

This is why I don't believe in The death penalty. Inmates should earn their keep by manual labor until the end of their prison sentence, this way they are not a burden to the state. Regardless of if she was innocent or not 32 years of supporting her to sit around waiting to die seems stupid. I will say that their reason for releasing her seem questionable to say the least. There obviously is a better way to deal with a situation like this other then murder.

[epincpalmer]

09:44 AM on 10/18/2011

There is an old Indian saying "don't judge until you have walked a mile in their mocasins". I lived through abusive upbringing, saw my sisters and mother beat and verbally abused just as I was. I thought this was the way all families acted. Thank God I met a wonderful person that has been with me through thick and thin for 47 years. I had decided that I didn't want my family afraid of me. To this day none in my family know what toll this abuse this took on me. My father has been deceased for over 30 years and I still cannot forgive what he did to us.

[Anne Marie313]

04:55 PM on 10/19/2011

you make a bold assumption that I had a nice childhood. Right is right, wrong is wrong. No matter what situation life puts you in there is a right way to deal with it and a wrong way. Thousands of people make it out of abusive relationships without committing homicide. Look at yourself, you made the choice to work through your bad childhood, even though it was difficult, you still managed. I still have PTSD, But I have made the choice to start letting go of my anger and try and scrape together my life. Regardless of how I can relate to her feelings, she was a grown woman that made a choice, just like you and I did.

[Unregistered1]

03:10 PM on 10/11/2011

I've been following this for a few years.

I don't think it is acceptable that she is allowed to leave prison because her husband abused her. What kind of message does that send?

[blruop]

08:19 AM on 10/12/2011

I love how you people say, "Just leave him." We are talking 26 plus years ago. So where was there to go back then with children? If you go to family, he'll find you there. He'll do all he can to manipulate one of the kids, you or the parents. Back then it was, "you married him, you live with him." Or he could hurt one of the family members, it doesn't matter to a batterer, they get angry enough, and they will strike anyone, especially domestical­ly. Shelters were just getting establishe­d. Have you ever tried to raise a child in a shelter evironment­? So your cut and dry answers are not so cut and dry.

[blruop]

08:20 AM on 10/12/2011

Sorry about my post above, that wasn't suppose to post on your message. It was suppose to be independent above.

[adamantthe1st21]

01:41 AM on 10/11/2011

Have you noticed lately killers are walking the streets of America free and are acting like stars. Before gaile owens we had casey anthony and amanda knox lately . GOD help America !

[avanticrzy]

11:55 PM on 10/10/2011

Ahhh.....she found religion.............ain't that something???

[johnjfoote]

06:00 PM on 10/10/2011

The man is dead and is never coming back. She should be dead.

[markinmissouri]

07:57 PM on 10/10/2011

are you from the slapaho tribe? if this woman suffered physical and sexual abuse from her husband, he doesnt need to be coming back. NO wife beater should.

[Unregistered1]

03:11 PM on 10/11/2011

What is more abusive than murder?

[violetalmondjoy]

10:19 PM on 10/10/2011

are you a lawyer then or perhaps a judge..? then tell me who died and left you to judge this woman... you couldnt live one second in her shoes, both before and after what she did to her husband or had done to him... i personally would have done it myself...

[Dan Crabtree]

05:03 PM on 10/10/2011

Well yea she did hire the killing of her husban buttttttttt..no onw i guilty of any crime ..it is now the "IN" thing..

[markinmissouri]

07:55 PM on 10/10/2011

is being nearly illiterate the "in thing" too?

[tiffanyb411]

08:50 AM on 10/11/2011

LMAO!!!!!! Zing!

[o0oooooo0o]

05:54 AM on 10/18/2011

sum peepull gust kant kuhmuoonakate corecktly.

[francny]

12:18 PM on 10/10/2011

Something about the circumstances regarding the murder of her husband doesn't ring true to me. Something is just a little bit off to me. Now, some are saying if she was abused why didn't she leave. Well, you have to know how many abused women react after years of physical abuse. They have lost their confidence, their self esteem and feel powerless to stop it or even leave. Often they see the only way out is if the abuser dies, which leads them to desparate acts. Of course it is wrong, I am not condoning it, but if you had any contact with a victim of years of abuse, you would understand that their way of thinking, and what you think are far far apart. Even free from the abuse, many women take the rest of their lives recovering, and some never do. Now I HAVE seen cases where black women are not given the same breaks as this woman and they spend the rest of their lives in prison. There is a disparity in the way black victims of abuse who commit violence against their abuser are treated and the way white women are treated. They are not treated equally by the criminal justice system.

[markinmissouri]

07:59 PM on 10/10/2011

very accurate and well said.

[violetalmondjoy]

10:21 PM on 10/10/2011

or they feel that they are the problem and allow the abuser to kill them...

[socalcde]

11:59 AM on 10/10/2011

Isn't it too bad that a battered and abused person doesn't have any laws that work to protect them. That is the real crime here.

[markinmissouri]

08:00 PM on 10/10/2011

NO SHT!!!! the batterer gets a ball bat, the abused get a piece of paper aka retraining order.

[violetalmondjoy]

10:22 PM on 10/10/2011

is that so the battered person could get retrained to begood pups...lol

[saveyourtime]

05:24 PM on 10/09/2011

The bottom line,Gaile orchestrated this crime.All of us know there’s choices when you’re being abused -move, get the fuc out, run as fast and far as you can or stay and suffer consequences. Yes shehad enough supporters to help set her free and she had former Gov Phil Bredesen commute her sentence to life. Enough said. The system doesn’t work equally for all regardless of race. It doesn’t matter about your “previous rap record”. What about The West Memphis 3? They hooked up with some celebrities (Dixie Chicks, etc.) and were set free. OJ Simpson chose to marry a young pretty hot gold digger known for partying, using drugs and screwing around. He had a choice to walk away or stay with it. He stayed and looked what happened. Did he commit the crime? The courts found him not guilty.Of course there’s favor in this world and there will always be favor amongst the living. Troy Davis didn’t have the favor of the Governor and nor did he have enough high profile supporters. It doesn’t matter who was here first or what color you are. Death doesn’t discriminate. It has to be a good thing nobody has returned. We’re all going to leave here one day. Start with yourself. You do the right thing like treating people right. Your white, black, tan, olive skin color doesn’t matter to death! Shut up and live in peace!

[violetalmondjoy]

10:24 PM on 10/10/2011

wow do come down every now and then from your ivery tower please since you have never been abused you have NO clue what you are talking about... how arrogant of you to assume you know anything about the human condition once abuse has taken place...

[blruop]

07:59 AM on 10/12/2011

Just reading your first sentence, we are talking over 26 years ago. So where was there to go back then with children? If you go to family, he'll find you there. He'll do all he can to manipulate one of the kids, you or the parents. Back then it was, "you married him, you live with him." Or he could hurt one of the family members, it doesn't matter to a batterer, they get angry enough, and they will strike anyone, especially domestically. Shelters were just getting established. Have you ever tried to raise a child in a shelter evironment? So your cut and dry answer is not so cut and dry.

BTW, "not guilty" does not mean innocent, it just means they couldn't convict beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Shut up and live in peace?" That's great, love it. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to live by that advice. And since that will never happen, you are going to have people who are going to excercise their right to free speech and discuss it.