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Michelle Lyons (/ˈlaɪənz/ "lions";[1] born 1975 ) is an American crime reporter, author and former Public Information Director for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, best known for witnessing almost 300 executions in Texas.

Early life and education

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Michelle Lyons was born in 1975 [a] in Galveston, Texas,[4] making her a BOI ('Born on Island') resident. Her father began his career as a reporter at The Daily News and met her mother while she was working as a records clerk at the Galveston Police Department. Lyons was raised in Galveston, attending the island's famous Ball High School until 1992, when her family relocated to Southern Illinois after her sophomore year for her father's job. She attended Benton Consolidated High School in Benton, Illinois, graduating in 1994 and then moving back to Texas to attend Texas A&M University in College Station where she would earn a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1997.[4]

Journalism career

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Lyons began her journalism career at the age of 16, working for The Benton Evening News as a photographer and a darkroom assistant, developing film and printing photos for each of the newspaper's six-day daily editions. Once in college, she became a staff writer for Texas A&M's student newspaper, The Battalion, before joining the staff of The Bryan-College Station Eagle, first as a part-time reporter covering spot news and obituaries and then later, as a full-time police reporter and then education reporter. In April 1998, Lyons joined The Huntsville Item as one of three full-time reporters, originally covering The City of Huntsville, Sam Houston State University, feature stories and breaking news.[5] In January 2000, she moved to covering the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as the prison beat reporter, at a time when the Item had one of five witness spots to cover every execution carried out in the State of Texas.[4][5] In interviews, Lyons has stated that while she knew the job would entail witnessing some executions, many years had seen fewer than 10 carried out in a single year, so she did not predict her first year covering the prison system would coincide with Texas' record-breaking 40 executions carried out in 2000,[6] of which Lyons witnessed 38.[5]

Death penalty coverage and TDCJ spokeswoman

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Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, in 2007

Lyons first began regularly covering Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) executions at the Huntsville Unit in January 2000, although she witnessed her first execution in 1998 while filling in for a colleague. In her memoir, "Death Row: The Final Minutes," Lyons writes[7][8] that in the early years of covering executions, she was skilled at compartmentalizing her emotions and staying neutral during her execution coverage although on occasions, she found herself empathizing more with particular individuals.

Lyons was 22 when she began regularly covering executions and she was the prison reporter during Texas' record-breaking 40 executions in 2000, during which then-Texas Governor George W. Bush was running for president, meaning international and national media were frequently in Huntsville and she received dozens of media requests from all over the world during that time, all wanting to interview the 'young woman who watched executions,'[9] as well as an influx of hate mail and angry phone calls, some threatening and accusing her of appearing "cold," in interviews[3][10] because she did not take a stance on the death penalty.

Lyons became a public information officer for TDCJ in November 2001 after she was approached by PIOs Larry Fitzgerald and Larry Todd about the position.[4] She was promoted to Director of Public Information in 2006, becoming the first female PIO Director and the youngest member of the prison's executive staff at the age of 30.[4] In 2009, the Houston Press named her "Best Flack," writing that while "some flacks live to circle the wagons and block the free flow of public information," Lyons worked to "help reporters get to the truth and heart of a story."[4]

She was abruptly demoted in 2012 over allegations that she kept inaccurate time sheets.[4][11] She resigned entirely from the TDCJ[12] in May 2012 after two additional false complaints were lodged at her,[4] the last of which was 'failure to obey an order,' and filed suit, alleging sex discrimination[13] and specifically, that she was being required to keep her time in a way that was wholly different from both her current and former male coworkers, as well as against the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.[11][14] The lawsuit was dismissed on summary judgment by U.S. District Judge David Hittner in 2013, with Lyons and her lawyers Nasim Ahmad and Delana Cline filing an appeal before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

In September 2014, the Fifth Circuit ruled in Lyons' favor,[15] finding that both the district court and TDCJ neglected to mention a key witness affidavit in briefs to the appellate court.[15] TDCJ went to a settlement conference with Lyons shortly after the case was remanded back to the lower court,[16] and the case was settled in November 2014 in Lyons' favor.[17]

During her 2001-2012 tenure with the prison system, Michelle Lyons witnessed more than 280 executions[3][18][19] by lethal injection,[3] including high-profile cases such as Napoleon Beazley, Betty Lou Beets, and Shaka Sankofa (nee Gary Graham).[18] Lyons witnessed the executions of two women.[4][3]

Later career

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As of 2012, Lyons works in the marketing department of a global law firm.[20]

Bibliography

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Lyons co-authored a memoir with her former mentor Larry Fitzgerald, titled Death Row: The Final Minutes,[8] published in the United Kingdom by Blink Publishing in 2018.[18][21] The book was released under an alternate title in the United States, and was later released in four other countries including China, Russia, the Czech Republic and Poland.

Fitzgerald tragically passed away[22] on June 12, 2017 after a long illness prior to publication.

Personal life

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Lyons is married. She has one child,[4] born in 2005.[3] Her step-daughter from a previous marriage was murdered during a robbery[23] in California in 2016.[3]

Views on the death penalty

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Lyons does not take a position on the death penalty but maintains that it is a personal view, and one that she feels is dependent on the specific facts of an individual case. In her book[8][7] and almost all of her interviews,[18][5] she has been open about the fact that witnessing so many executions began to take an emotional toll on her, particularly after she became a mother, because she found herself more impacted witnessing the emotions around her – the loss of the victim's family, and the strength displayed by the inmates' mothers while witnessing the deaths of their sons. Feeling there were no winners, and bearing witness to all of it had tremendous weight,[8] Lyons wrote.

Notes

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  1. ^ Javier Cruz was executed in 1998,[2] and Lyons was 22 when she witnessed his execution,[3] which means that she was born in 1975 or 1976.

References

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  1. ^ "Amnesty report indicates big fall in executions around world". Deutsche Welle. October 4, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  2. ^ "Addict executed for killing 2 elderly men". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Execution witness who has watched 280 men die". NZ Herald. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Colloff, Pamela (August 12, 2014). "The Witness". Texas Monthly. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d "Woman Who Witnessed Around 300 Executions Reveals The Inmates' Last Words That Have Stayed With Her". LADbible. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  6. ^ Lozano • •, Juan A. (December 17, 2020). "Texas Had Fewest Executions Since 1996 Due to Pandemic". NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Blakinger, Keri (May 3, 2018). "Former Texas prison spokeswoman releases tell-all book after watching 280 executions". Houston Chronicle.
  8. ^ a b c d Lyons, Michelle (May 18, 2018). Death Row: The Final Minutes (1st ed.). United Kingdom: Blink Publishing (published May 2018). ISBN 978-1-91160-062-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  9. ^ God Save Texas | Official Website for the HBO Series | HBO.com. Retrieved October 11, 2024 – via www.hbo.com.
  10. ^ "CNN.com – Transcripts". transcripts.cnn.com. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  11. ^ a b "Texas Information Officer's Termination Lawsuit Dismissed | Prison Legal News". www.prisonlegalnews.org. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  12. ^ "Watchdog: Texas prison system isn't too keen on openness". Dallas News. May 31, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  13. ^ Reporter, Cody StarkStaff (June 8, 2012). "Former director brings federal suit against TDCJ". Itemonline.com. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  14. ^ Stark, Cody. "Former director brings federal suit against TDCJ". Itemonline.com. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Michelle Lyons v. TDCJ, No. 13-20543 (5th Cir. 2014)". Justia Law. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  16. ^ "GovInfo". www.govinfo.gov. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  17. ^ Gritsforbreakfast (February 12, 2015). "Grits for Breakfast: TDCJ settled discrimination suit by former flak, Michelle Lyons". Grits for Breakfast. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  18. ^ a b c d "The woman who watched 300 executions in Texas". BBC News. May 6, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  19. ^ Blakinger, Keri (May 3, 2018). "Former Texas prison spokeswoman releases tell-all book after watching 280 executions". Chron. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  20. ^ Mathis-Lilley, Ben (August 27, 2014). "Texas Monthly Profiles a Woman Who Has Seen 278 Executions". Slate Magazine. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  21. ^ Barajas, Michael (January 25, 2021). "'Let the Lord Sort Them' Explores the Rise, Fall, and Lingering Trauma of the Death Penalty in Texas". The Texas Observer. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  22. ^ "C. Fitzgerald Obituary 2017". All Faiths Funeral Services. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  23. ^ "Man arrested, charged in murder of 17-year-old Texas girl in Marina del Rey". ABC7 Los Angeles. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
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