Convicted mom of death row inmate dies in prison

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Rita Bixby, who was serving a life sentence for planning the 2003 ambush on her property that killed two officers, has died in prison. She was 79.

Richland County Coroner Gary Watts says Bixby died at Graham Correctional Institution in Columbia about 4 a.m. Monday. Watts says Bixby had cancer.

A jury found Bixby guilty in 2007 of conspiracy and accessory.

Her son, Steven Bixby, was sentenced to death for the shooting deaths of Abbeville County Sheriff’s Sgt. Danny Wilson and Constable Donnie Ouzts. The family was angry about a highway project.

The state Supreme Court upheld Steven Bixby’s death sentence last year. Her lawyer had asked for a re-hearing of her appeal.

Her husband, Arthur, was involuntarily committed to a mental institution in 2008.