Georgia executes a woman for the first time in 70 years
September 30, 2015
According to the Statesboro Herald, Georgia enacted the death penalty against one of its inmates Wednesday, September 30, 2015.
After an estimated 18 years of being on death row, Kelly Renee Gissendaner was executed for the February 1997 murder of her former husband Douglas Gissendaner. Douglas was stabbed repeatedly by Kelly’s then boyfriend and co-conspirator Gregory Owen.
With the guilty plea and testimony against Kelly, Gregory Owen is now serving life in prison and can become eligible for parole in 2022. Gissendaner was originally planned for execution before Wednesday, but due to unforeseen circumstances her date was postponed twice. Once on February 25, 2015 because of winter weather, and another on March 2, 2015 because of what correctional officer told Statesboro Herald to be out of extreme caution. The officer then added the drug looked cloudy, guessing not wanting to risk the effectiveness of the lethal injection.
Kelly Renee Gissendaner was pronounced dead at 12:21 a.m making her the first woman to be killed under Capital Punishment in Georgia since 1945.
