Georgia's only female death row inmate to be executed

Kelly Renee Gissendaner at the time of her arrest

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- Kelly Renee Gissendaner, Georgia's only female death row inmate, will be executed later this month.

A Gwinnett County judge signed an execution order Monday, requesting a date between Feb. 25 and Mar. 4. Tuesday morning, Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Homer Bryson scheduled the execution for Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Gissendaner's legal team was granted a clemency hearing for Feb. 24. Her appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied in October 2014.

She was sentenced to death in November 1998 after being convicted of recruiting her boyfriend to kill her husband. The boyfriend, Gregory Bruce Owen, pleaded guilty and testified against her in exchange for a life sentence. He told the jury how the mother of three carefully planned her husband's death.

The victim, Doug Gissendaner, was murdered Feb. 7, 1997. According to documents from U.S. District Court, Owen followed Kelly Gissendaner's instructions to kidnap the victim, drive him to a remote location, and kill him by beating him with a nightstick and stabbing him repeatedly in the neck and back.

Gissendaner was at a nightclub with friends when her husband passed away. She later drove to the crime scene to ensure he was dead, according to court documents. Gissendaner provided Owen with kerosene so he could burn the victim's car. The pair also stole Doug Gissendaner's watch and wedding ring to make his death look like a robbery gone bad.

After her arrest, Kelly Gissendaner called her best friend from jail to confess her role in the murder, then later called back to say she was coerced into participating, according to prosecutors. She also attempted to hire someone to give perjured testimony and to rob and beat a witness.

If she is executed, Gissendaner will be only the second woman put to death by the state of Georgia, according to the Georgia Attorney General's office. The first, Lena Baker, was electrocuted in 1945 for killing her employer. She received a full pardon in 2005, when the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles agreed with her family's argument that Baker acted in self-defense and should have been charged with manslaughter.

Source: 11alive.com, February 11, 2015

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