Convict released on parole for rest of life

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Shirley Lute on Friday took the last step on a winding legal road as she was released from a state prison in northern Missouri more than 25 years after she was convicted of helping kill the man she said had been abusing her.

Lute, 76, was initially sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 50 years. She was convicted of aiding her son in killing her husband, Melvin, who she claims physically tortured and mentally tormented her.

In 2004, Gov. Bob Holden commuted her sentence to make her immediately eligible for parole, but the state Board of Probation and Parole refused to release her. Earlier this year, the state Supreme Court overruled the board and ordered her released.

She walked out of prison Friday to the cheers of fellow inmates and the welcome arms of her two daughters, then rode with them to start a new life in mid-Missouri.

"I'm really overwhelmed. My grandkids have gotten big, and my daughters are just as lovely as ever," Lute said in an interview with The Associated Press after arriving at her daughter's Columbia home. "I have to get know them again."

She has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Lute said that on Saturday -- her first full day as a free woman in 29 years -- she intended to go shopping for clothes. Eventually, she plans to buy a car and maybe a house of her own.

Lute's grown daughters, who were 13 and 11 when their mother's prison sentence started, gave her a basket of flowers as she left the prison.

Since the state high court ordered her release more than two weeks ago, Lute said she nervously awaited her actual release.

"There's that little fear, what if, what if. It was unreal until I could actually walk out," Lute said.

Lute will remain on parole for the rest of her life and must follow certain restrictions. All parolees must abide by some general requirements, such as not using drugs, following the law and not possessing weapons. Some parolees also have special restrictions on top of that.

A spokesman for the Department of Corrections said he could not discuss Lute's parole conditions because they are confidential. Spokesman Brian Hauswirth said she will be supervised by a Columbia parole office.

Hauswirth said Lute was released at 10:45 a.m. to shouts of support and cries of "We love you, Ms. Lute!" from inmates at the Chillicothe Correctional Center.

Lute thanked the guards at the prison for always being respectful, family members for staying in touch with her, fellow inmates for their support and Joe Church, the St. Louis man who helped organize an effort to seek clemency.

Church, a financial planner from Chesterfield, began working with a group of law school professors and students and domestic violence victim advocates after he learned during a high school reunion that a former classmate was in prison for killing her abusive husband.

He said that he spoke to Lute while she was buying a purse with her daughters and felt honored by her appreciation.

"I'm not a judge or jury to determine whether she should go to prison, but she shouldn't die in prison," Church said.

Roy Welch, Lute's son, was convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of Lute's husband in their Monroe County home. He remains at the Jefferson City Correctional Center for two unrelated crimes -- assault and a weapons offense -- committed while he was in prison for the murder. Roy Welch is scheduled to have a parole hearing in December, Hauswirth said.

Washington University law professor Jane Aiken, who has represented Lute since 1998, said she never expected her client to be released.

"It [the petition for clemency] went through to get the grace of a governor and the attention of the Missouri Supreme Court, and the chance to win at both levels is pretty small," Aiken said. "For me, it's a shot in the arm. You see so many times where people don't win when they should."

The state high court also ordered the Parole and Probation Board to consider whether to release Lynda Branch, who was convicted of shooting her husband, Raymond, in 1986. Branch, 54, says she grabbed the gun after he threatened to shoot her and her daughter.

The board approved Branch's parole. But Hauswirth said there is a "technical problem" with Branch's parole that will likely be worked out in time for her to be released by next week.