Issue with Lethal Drug Postpones Executions Indefinitely

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The court-ordered execution of condemned murderer Kelly Renee Gissendaner, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection Monday, has been postponed indefinitely, the Georgia Department of Corrections said in a news release.

Also postponed was the scheduled March 10 execution of Brian Keith Terrell.

At issue is the drug used for lethal injections.

The department’s news alert:

FORSYTH, Ga. – The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) announced today that, out of an abundance of caution, the scheduled executions of Kelly Renee Gissendaner and Brian Keith Terrell, have been postponed while an analysis is conducted of the drugs planned for use in last night’s scheduled execution of inmate Gissendaner.

The sentencing courts will issue new execution orders when the Department is prepared to proceed.

This is the second time Gissendanner’s execution has been postponed — first by winter weather on Feb. 25, and then Monday night after authorities noticed a cloudy appearance in the drug. The execution was scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, but authorities decided to postpone the proceedings around 11 p.m.

Gissendaner, of Auburn, Ga., is convicted of plotting the murder of her husband, Douglas, near Dacula in 1997. She is currently the only woman on Georgia’s death row. If executed, she would be the first woman put to death in Georgia in 70 years.

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
• Georgia Set to Execute Kelly Renee Gissendaner

Terrell was convicted for the 1992 robbery and murder of John Henry Watson in Watson’s Newton County home. After three trials, Terrell was convicted in 2001 in Walton County Superior Court. The trial was held in Walton County on a change-of-venue order.

His first two trials, both held in Newton County, ended in a mistrial and an overturn by the Georgia Supreme Court.

RELATED

• Walton Superior Court Orders Execution of Brian Keith Terrell

(Photos: Kelly Renee Gissendaner, Brian Keith Terrell. Georgia Dept. of Corrections mug shots)