GEORGIA — The state’s only female on death row, Kelly Renee Gissendaner, was put to death Tuesday night.
Gissendaner was the 35th Georgia inmate put to death by lethal injection and was the only woman on the state’s death row.
A Parole board denied clemency for Gissendaner earlier in the day. Appeals to the U.S. Supreme court were also denied. She was scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday, September 29th at 7 p.m. ET.
Her last meal request was cheese dip and chips, Texas fajita nachos and a diet frosted lemonade.
Gissendaner was injected at 12:21 a.m. and sang Amazing Grace until she died, witnesses said. Her last statement being: “Tell My Kids I Went Out Singing Amazing Grace.”
The Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday that the pope sent a letter through a representative, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, pleading for her life to be spared.
“While not wishing to minimize the gravity of the crime for which Ms. Gissendander has been convicted, and while sympathizing with the victims, I nonetheless implore you, in consideration of the reasons that have been expressed to your board, to commute the sentence to one that would better express both justice and mercy,” Vigano wrote.
Gissendaner was sentenced to death in 1998 for orchestrating the murder of her husband Doug.
Her boyfriend, who carried out the crime, testified against her in exchange for a life sentence.
The crime as described by Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens:
Owen and Kelly Gissendaner planned the murder for months. On February 7, 1997, she dropped Owen off at her home, gave him a nightstick and hunting knife and went out dancing with girlfriends.
Douglas Gissendaner also spent the evening away from home, going to a church friend’s house to work on cars. Owen lay in wait until he returned.
When Douglas Gissendaner came home around 11:30 p.m., Owen forced him by knifepoint into a car and drove him to a remote area of Gwinnett County.
There, Owen ordered his victim into the woods, took his watch and wallet to make it look like a robbery, hit him in the head with the nightstick and stabbed Douglas Gissendaner in the neck eight to 10 times.
Kelly Gissendaner arrived just as the murder took place but did not immediately get out of her car. She later checked on her husband to make sure he was dead, then Owen followed her in Douglas Gissendaner’s car to retrieve a can of kerosene that Kelly Gissendaner had left for him.
Owen set her husband’s car on fire in an effort to hide evidence, and left the scene with Kelly Gissendaner.
