Mississippi Death Row Inmate Faces Execution as Appeals Highlight Trial Flaws and Disability Concerns

Lisa Jo Chamberlin, 53, has been the sole female inmate on Mississippi’s death row for a decade and now faces execution for the 2004 killings of Vernon Hulett and Linda Heintzelman, crimes committed with her co-defendant Roger Gillett. Her trial was marked by the use of two jailhouse informants whose credibility has been questioned and by a prosecutor who introduced details of her sex life to portray her as a mastermind.

Although her defense presented evidence of extensive childhood abuse and her diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the court excluded expert testimony on how the disorder affected her behavior. The Mississippi Supreme Court dismissed her latest appeal, despite her lawyers citing a 2025 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars overly prejudicial evidence. Should the state proceed, Chamberlin would be the first woman executed in Mississippi since 1944, highlighting ongoing concerns about how gender-based violence and disability are considered in capital cases.