Georgia Postpones Kelly Renee Gissendaner Execution

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Updated: 11:30 p.m.

The scheduled execution of condemned murderer Kelly Renee Gissendaner has been postponed, the state department of corrections told reporters late Monday night.

There was an apparent problem with the lethal injection (pentobarbital). A Georgia Department of Corrections spokesperson said in a statement there was a cloudy appearance in the drug, prompting the postponement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

There was no word on when the execution with be re-scheduled.

Gissendaner was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Monday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Check back for updates

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Original post

With seemingly every plea for clemency exhausted, Kelly Renee Gissendaner, the Auburn, Ga., woman convicted of plotting the 1997 murder of her husband, was to be executed Monday night at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

But as of 10:30 p.m., no word had been heard about the originally scheduled 7 p.m. execution, as the U.S. Supreme Court was said to be considering late arguments from Gissendaner’s lawyers asking for a stay, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

If executed, Gissendaner, 46, would be the first woman put to death in Georgia in 70 years. She is the lone woman on Georgia’s death row.

Lawyers continued pleading for mercy throughout the day, but most of those requests were denied.

A final clemency request to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles also was denied, the board announced late Monday afternoon.

Pleas to the Georgia Supreme Court and a federal appeals court also were turned down, according to media reports.

RELATED

• Murder Convict Could Be First Woman Executed in Ga. in 70 Years
• Clemency Denied for Georgia’s Only Woman on Death Row
• Pleas for Mercy Asked for Condemned Woman on Death Row

Gissendaner received the death sentence for her involvement in the Feb. 7, 1997 murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner, a Desert Storm veteran whose body was found beaten and stabbed in a wooded area off Luke Edwards Road near Dacula.

Prosecutors said Gissendaner convinced her boyfriend Gregory Owen to carry out the murder, helped cover up the crime by setting her husband’s car on fire, then went to lengths to deny her involvement, including saying Owen threatened her life if she told.

The Gissendaners had a rocky relationship, marrying twice and divorcing once. Prosecutors said she planned the murder to get out of the relationship and collect insurance money.

Owen, who was sentenced life in prison, avoided the death penalty by helping prosecutors in the case against Gissendaner.

MORE INFO

• Gissendaner case summary from Georgia Attorney General
• Kelly Gissendaner clemency application

Owen is eligible for parole in eight years, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.