Two sisters from Alabama are at conflict over their mother who remains imprisoned for a terrible crime 14 years ago for which one of the sister still bears the burns. One sister wants her mother freed from the jail while another sister feels very contrarily and wants her locked up.
Ashley Smith was just 14 months old when her mother, Melissa Wright, removed the racks from an oven, set the knob to brawl and put the toddler inside. The infant’s gentle skin suffered third degree burns over 30 per cent of her body.
Melissa, who was 26 at the time, was penalised to 25 years in an Alabama prison for make an effort murder after pleading guilty to the crime.
The little girl was saved by her dad, who heard her frantic cries. He pulled her out of the oven and ran her to the hospital. Ashley is now turns up 14, but the teenager still carries the scars from her burns on her arms and forehead.
Ashley said that she had to go through 38 painful surgeries. She said that she neither hate or love her mother but don’t want to see her anymore. She thinks that her mother is senseless and she cannot visualize any mother wanting to burn their child.
Ashley has been upraised by her aunt and uncle and mentions to them as her parents.
Ashley’s sister, Courtney, was 8 years old at the time, and saw everything. But she believes that her mother should be released.
Courtney, now 22, says their mother was stressed with mental disorder and suffering from the side effects of anti-depressant medication. She said that her mother was not in her right mind when she did that. Courtney says their mother has been treated for her mental complications in her 14 years in prison and be worthy of to be freed.
Courtney says that their mother is not a monster and that she is a changed woman and people need to realize that.
Both sisters appeared before the Alabama parole board.
Ashley told the boar how she felt. She said that she can’t imagine anyone being in as much pain as she went through mentally and physically. Courtney has insisted that her mother is a changed woman.
The board declined to award parole. Courtney hid her face in her hands when she heard the pronouncement. Once so close as children, the two sisters no longer speak to each other.
