A lot of people believed she was innocent.

And now she's dead.

Texas leads the nation in the number of executions performed since the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in the 1970s. Almost half the people on death row in Texas are African American, though only 12% of the population is. In Harris County where Frances Newton is from, the police crime lab is notorious for botching capital cases.

Evidence was disputed.

Another hurdle in Newton's case was her state-appointed attorney. She was originally represented by the infamous defense attorney Ron Mock, who lost so many capital cases that he is known as “Death Row Mock”. At least 16 of Mock's
clients have gone to death row, and he has never won an acquittal in a capital
case. He has been suspended from the bar twice.

See also here. and here.

I think I need a bathroom break?