US executes jailed mother of three

[Melech 9,900]

"The only woman on Georgia’s death row was executed yesterday, making her the first woman executed in the southern US state in 70 years.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner was pronounced dead by injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. She was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her husband after she conspired with her lover, who stabbed Douglas Gissendaner to death.

The 47-year-old sobbed as she said she loved her children and apologised to Douglas Gissendaner’s family, saying she hoped they could find some peace and happiness.

She also addressed her lawyer, Susan Casey. “I just want to say God bless you all and I love you, Susan. You let my kids know I went out singing Amazing Grace,” she said.

Gissendaner sang not only Amazing Grace but also ­appeared to sing another song before taking several deep breaths and then becoming still.

More than 100 people gathered in rainy conditions outside the prison to support Gissen­daner. Among them was Della ­Bacote, a chaplain at Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville who spent several hours with Gissendaner on Tuesday afternoon, talking and praying.

“She was at peace with whatever was to come,” Mr Bacote said.

Gissendaner’s three children visited her on Monday but weren’t able to see her on Tuesday because they were testifying before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Two of Gissendaner’s three children had previously ­addressed the board and also put out a video earlier this month pleading for their mother’s life and talking about their own difficult path to forgiveness. Her oldest son had not previously addressed the board.

Various courts, including the US Supreme Court, denied multiple last-ditch efforts to stop her execution, and the parole board stood by its February decision to deny clemency.

The Pope’s diplomatic representative in the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, on Tuesday sent a letter to the ­parole board on behalf of the pontiff asking for a commutation of Gissendaner’s sentence “to one that would better express both justice and mercy”.

He cited an address the Pope made to congress last week in which he called for the abolition of the death penalty.

Gissendaner’s lawyers also submitted a statement from ­former Georgia chief justice Norman Fletcher to the parole board. Mr Fletcher argued ­Gissendaner’s death sentence was not proportionate to her role in the crime.

Her lover, Gregory Owen, who did the killing, is serving a life in prison and will become eligible for parole in 2022. He also noted Georgia hadn’t ­executed a person who didn’t ­actually carry out a killing since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Gissendaner’s lawyers said she was a seriously damaged woman who had undergone a spiritual transformation in prison and had been a model prisoner who had shown remorse."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/georgia-executes-first-woman-in-70-years-kelly-gissendaner/story-e6frg6so-1227551236885