Woman's appeal rejected in husband's slaying

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- An appeals court has upheld a former Caruthersville, Mo., woman's plea of guilty for the murder of her husband.

Mary L. Pickard was charged with first-degree murder for the killing husband Michael W. Pickard in Caruthersville on June 11, 1999.

She pleaded guilty to the charge on July 11, 2000, in exchange for a prosecutor's agreement not to seek the death penalty and to drop a second felony charge of armed criminal action.

Pickard later sought to withdraw her plea, claiming her attorney provided ineffective counsel during plea negotiations.

The New Madrid County circuit court judge handling the case on a venue change from Pemiscot County denied her motion.

In a decision issued Wednesday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District said there was no reason to overrule the lower court.

"The motion court found that Pickard had a full understanding of the consequences of the guilty plea, and that she was fully advised by her attorneys," wrote Judge Nancy Steffen Rahmeyer, the author of the opinion.

Died from shotgun blastAccording to news reports from 1999, Michael Pickard died from a shotgun blast in the back.

His body was found along Interstate 155, just west of the Mississippi River bridge connecting Missouri to Tennessee.

The news reports mention Mary Pickard had an accomplice but were unclear as to who pulled the trigger.

Neither the Pemiscot County prosecuting attorney's office nor the Missouri attorney general's office, which represented the state for the appeal, could immediately provide details on the facts of the case.

Pickard, 54, is serving a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole at the Chillicothe Correctional Center.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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