Margaret Basso, 59, became the fifth woman to be executed in the United States, according to the Associated Press. She was pronounced dead in Huntsville, Texas, Wednesday.
The Supreme Court rejected a last-day appeal by Basso’s lawyer that claimed she was not mentally competent. This ruling came just an hour before the scheduled execution.
ABC News reports:
Basso was sentenced to die for the 1998 slaying of 59-year-old Louis “Buddy” Musso, whose battered and lacerated body, washed with bleach and scoured with a wire brush, was found in a ditch outside Houston.
Basso led the New Jersey man to Texas with promises of marriage. She became a suspect in the crime when she reported him missing. She directed a group of people to assist her in killing Musso. The motive for the brutal assault is believed to be for money.
According to the Huntsville Item,
Prosecutors said Basso had made herself the beneficiary of Musso’s insurance policies and took over his Social Security benefits after luring him from New Jersey. Five other assailants were convicted, but Basso was the only was sentenced to death.