Execution of Ga.'s only female death row inmate delayed
Last SlideNext SlideKelly Renee Gissendaner, the only female inmate on Georgia's death row, is scheduled to be executed Feb. 18, 2015.(Photo: Georgia Department of Corrections)ATLANTA — Georgia officials denied a reprieve to the state's only female death-row inmate Wednesday, but an encroaching winter storm may have given her five additional days to live.Kelly Gissendaner, 46, who now admits that she orchestrated the February 1997, murder of her husband by persuading her boyfriend to kill him, was scheduled for execution at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday at the state prison in Jackson, Ga. The execution has been reset for Monday, according to a Department of Corrections statement that did not list a reason for the delay.Jackson, about 50 miles southeast of Atlanta, is expecting rain Wednesday afternoon that will turn to a mixture of rain and snow in the evening.Further north in Atlanta, the wintry mix is expected to start by 3 p.m. with an inch or two of snow possible at night, according to the National Weather Service. Similar weather is forecast for Auburn, Ga., where the Gissendaners lived 18 years ago. A winter storm warning is in effect until 10 a.m. Thursday in north Georgia.Gissendaner's boyfriend, Greg Owen, pleaded guilty to the murder of Doug Gissendaner Jr. and received a life sentence. A jury sentenced Gissendaner to death in 1998."(Owen) beat him with a club and stabbed him and left him to die in the woods," said Gwinnett County District Attorney, Danny Porter.The State Board of Pardons and Paroles had a clemency hearing Tuesday for Kelly Gissendaner but announced Wednesday that her request for clemency was denied. The parole board is the only entity in Georgia with the authority to commute a death sentence.Gissendaner will be the first woman executed in Georgia in about 70 years."Doug was a wonderful person and beloved father, son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend. He is so loved by all of us, and we cherish the memories we have of him," according to a statement from Doug Gissendaner's family. "We will never forget the goodness and kindness he brought to this world."Kelly Gissendaner told police her husband didn't return home Feb. 7, 1997, from dinner with friends in Lawrenceville, just outside Atlanta. His burned-out car was found two days later. His body was found about a week after that, roughly a mile from the car, in a remote wooded area.Kelly and Douglas Gissendaner had a troubled relationship, splitting up and getting back together multiple times, including divorcing and remarrying, according to information from the state attorney general's office. Kelly Gissendaner repeatedly pushed Owen in late 1996 to kill her husband rather than just divorcing him as Owen suggested.Investigators looking into Douglas Gissendaner's killing zeroed in on Owen once they learned of his affair with Kelly Gissendaner. He initially denied involvement but eventually confessed and implicated Kelly Gissendaner.The clemency petition included statements from two of Gissendaner's three children asking the parole board to spare their mother's life."The impact of losing my mother would be devastating," wrote Kayla Gissendaner, who was 7 when her father was killed. "I can't fathom losing another parent."My mother has become a woman full of love and compassion who is striving to become the best person she can within her situation," she wrote.The clemency petition also included a statement from Kelly Gissendaner, who apologized to her children and to the Gissendaner family."There are no excuses for what I did," Kelly Gissendaner said in her statement. "I will never understand how I let myself fall into such evil."Contributing: The Associated PressWill ice, snow shut down the South...again?Feb 25, 2015
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