Tasmiyah Whitehead, one of the Georgia "twisted twins" convicted over the fatal stabbing of their mother in 2010, has been released from prison on parole after serving only 12 years of a 30-year sentence. She and her twin sister Jasmiyah, who were 16 at the time, attacked their mother Nikki with a kitchen pot and a knife at their home in Conyers, Georgia, stabbing her between 50 and 80 times before submerging her body in a bathtub while she was still alive. The case attracted widespread attention for its brutality and the twins' apparent composure afterwards, and Tasmiyah's early release has reignited debate over the leniency of her plea deal.

Whitehead, now 33, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, knife possession and giving false statements under a 2014 plea agreement, and was freed from Pulaski State Prison on 5 August after also spending four years in pre-trial detention. She had been eligible for parole since 2017, whereas her sister Jasmiyah, who took an identical plea deal, will not be eligible until May 2028. The sisters, who had been largely raised by their great-grandmother, were arrested four months after the killing following a covert investigation in which detectives recorded them discussing the absence of evidence.