A woman is scheduled to be executed Wednesday in Texas for murdering a mentally-challenged man in 1998.
Suzanne Basso, 59, was convicted of torturing and slaying 59-year-old Louis 'Buddy' Musso in 1999. Basso, a New York native, enticed Musso to Texas from New Jersey with the promise of marriage and then murdered him so that she could claim his insurance policy. After his body was found, she said Musso had gone missing. The police questioned her timing and then arrested her on suspicion.
According to the prosecutors, Basso was a ringleader of a group, which helped her with the murder. Musso's battered body washed with bleach and scoured with a wire brush, was found in a ditch outside Houston, reported the Associated Press.
After Musso's death, police found that Bass would be paid $65,000 of the insurance policy, said the prosecutors, reports Reuters.
During the trial, Winston Cochran Jr, Basso's lawyer, said that she had a history of delusions and was mentally unfit to face execution. He also questioned the authenticity of a medical examiner's testimony, reports the Daily Mail.
"It was challenging, but I saw her for who she was," said Colleen Barnett, the former Harris County assistant district attorney, who prosecuted Basso, reports AP. "I was determined I was not going to let her get away with it."
Basso also said that she was a triplet and worked in the New York governor's office. She further claimed to have a relationship with Nelson Rockefeller. However, at a competency tests two months ago she admitted to fabricating her background.
The prosecutors said that Musso met either Basso or her son while living in New Jersey. He later moved to Jacinto City, Houston.
Five others, including Basso's son, were also convicted for Musso's murder. But the prosecutors sought the death penalty only for Basso. "Suzanne ran the show for sure. ... She was the one in charge. She directed them. She wanted the money," Barnett said. "She's a heinous killer."
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a stay on the execution in a Tuesday ruling. Now her only hope is the U.S. Supreme Court.
Basso will be the fourteenth woman to be executed in the U.S. after the Supreme Court's nod to resume capital punishment in 1976, reports AP. Since then nearly 1,400 men have been executed. Texas, the state notorious for its high number of executions, has executed four women and 505 men.
