This case study examines the life, crimes, and execution of Margie Velma Barfield, who was convicted of six murders in 1978 and became the first woman executed in the United States following the resumption of capital punishment in 1976. Born into an abusive household in rural South Carolina, Barfield developed a drug addiction and murdered five individuals—her mother, two elderly patients, her boyfriend, and one employer—by poisoning them with arsenic-laced rat poison to fund her substance abuse. Executed on November 2, 1984, at age 52, Barfield holds the historic distinction of being the first woman put to death by lethal injection. The paper explores how her traumatic childhood and subsequent life circumstances may have contributed to her crimes, and considers whether the jury's exclusion of this evidence at trial affected the outcome of her capital case.
Margie Velma Barfield was born on October 23, 1932, on a small farm in rural South Carolina as one of nine children raised in a strict Christian household. Her father, Murphy Bullard, subjected her and her siblings to abuse throughout their childhood, including sexual molestation. To escape her home life, Barfield dropped out of school and married her boyfriend Thomas Burke at the age of 17.
Velma and Thomas had two children together and lived in Parkton, North Carolina, as a family for more than fifteen years. In 1965, Thomas Burke was involved in a serious automobile accident that left him unemployed. Following his accident, Thomas began to use alcohol and drugs heavily to cope with the severe pain and depression resulting from his injuries. Barfield attempted to hold the household together financially by working two jobs, but she became burdened by depression and developed a drug habit herself.
In 1969, a random house fire claimed the life of Thomas Burke while Barfield was away with the children running errands. A few months later, a second fire burned the house to the ground, with Barfield collecting a substantial insurance payout shortly after. Velma began dating a widower named Jennings Barfield. The two married in August 1970, but the marriage lasted only a few months because Jennings died of heart failure.
Widowed again, Barfield moved in with her parents in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to help care for her ailing father. Not long after moving in, Barfield's father died of lung cancer. In 1974, a gentleman whom Barfield was dating was killed in a horrific car accident. In December of that same year, Barfield's mother showed symptoms of a serious stomach illness. Her mother was rushed to the hospital and was pronounced dead a couple of hours after admission.
In 1975, Barfield began working as a home health nurse for an elderly couple, Montgomery Edwards and his wife Dollie. In January 1977, Montgomery Edwards died, and a few weeks later, Dollie Edwards also died, both having developed a stomach virus before their deaths. Barfield was then reassigned by her company to care for another elderly couple: John Henry and Record Lee. John Henry Lee died in June 1977, also with a severe stomach virus.
Late in 1977, Barfield moved in with her boyfriend Stuart Taylor. Shortly after the move, Stuart began to complain of severe stomach pains. He eventually admitted himself into the hospital and died within a matter of days. Several autopsies were ordered by Alice Storm, Stuart Taylor's oldest daughter. She believed her father was healthy and in good shape, and something did not sit right with her.
Weeks later, Alice's hunch proved to be correct, with the autopsy results determining that arsenic was present in Taylor's system before his death. Barfield was brought in for questioning by the police and later confessed to poisoning Taylor, as well as Montgomery and Dollie Edwards, John Henry Lee, and her mother, Lillian Burke, with rat poison. All of their bodies were exhumed, and arsenic was found present in all of them. Barfield confessed that she had killed them to cover up the fact that she had stolen money from them to support her illicit drug use. Despite her confession, Barfield continued to refute claims that she had also killed her first husband Thomas Burke and her second husband Jennings Barfield.
"Capital conviction and lethal injection execution"
Many people believe that Barfield's upbringing was her determining factor. The psychological, physical, and sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her father is a plausible explanation for the behavioral patterns evident in Barfield's actions. Unfortunately, at her trial hearing, the jury was not permitted to hear any information about her upbringing. Some believe that if this information had been presented to the jury, Barfield might not have received the death sentence.
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