Kelly Gissendaner: Georgia Set To Execute First Woman In 70 Years

Kelly Gissendaner will be the first woman executed in Georgia in 70 years. Gissendaner is scheduled to be put to death tonight at 7 p.m., after exhausting all of her appeals. The death row inmate did not murder anyone, but was sentenced to execution for plotting to kill her husband.

The Georgia mom was convicted of plotting to kill her husband, Douglas Gissendaner after he was murdered in 1997. Earlier this week her daughter pleaded for leniency, but the request was denied on Wednesday. “The impact of losing my mother would be devastating. I can’t fathom losing another parent,” daughter Kayla Gissendaner said in her request for leniency letter, according to 11Alive News.

“There are no excuses for what I did. I will never understand how I let myself fall into such evil,” Kelly Gissendaner said during her last minute clemency appeal on Tuesday. The court heard testimony from more than 20 people begging for the life of the mother of three to be spared before making a decision on the clemency request.
Kelly Gissendaner convinced her lover, Gregory Owen, to kidnap and stab her husband and then helped the murderer burn her spouse’s body inside his killer’s car. Owen was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Douglas Gissendaner murder.

http://youtu.be/mE9SIhkP91c

“He might have raised his children. He might have gone on. There are a lot of possibilities that were snuffed out in 1997 that she’s responsible for,” Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter told WBS News.

Attorneys for the Georgia death row inmate claim that she should be granted clemency because she found God behind bars and “accepts full responsibility” for the role she played in her husband’s murder. Law enforcement authorities successfully argued that Douglas Gissendaner would still be alive if it were not for his wife’s action.

Douglas Gissendaner was stabbed multiple times in the neck by Gregory Owen. According to court reports, Kelly Gissendaner wanted to divorce her husband, but felt he would never leave her alone.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Kelly Gissendaner ordered a huge last meal before her execution day. She asked for two Whoppers with cheese from Burger King, French fries, cornbread, and cherry vanilla ice cream.

Attorneys for the Georgia death row inmate claim that she should be granted clemency because she found God behind bars and “accepts full responsibility” for the role she played in her husband’s murder.

[Image via: Shutterstock]