First Female Convict To Be Executed In Georgia After 70 years

Georgia’s first female convict to be executed in 70 years, Kelly Gissendaner, paid the supreme price early this morning.

47-year-old Gissendaner was convicted of murder for convincing her lover to kill her husband in 1997.

Gissendaner arranged to have her husband killed by Greg Owen, who stabbed Doug Gissendaner in the neck and back. Owen testified against Kelly Gissendaner as part of a plea bargain that got him a life sentence instead of death.

Gissendaner was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. yesterday but her lawyers filed multiple requests to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to spare her life. Each attempt failed.

Pleas from Gissendaner’s children and a recent letter on behalf of the Pope weren’t enough to sway the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole.

The family of Gissendaner’s slain husband, Douglas, said they had faith in the legal system.

“Kelly planned and executed Doug’s murder. She targeted him and his death was intentional. Kelly chose to have her day in court and after hearing the facts of this case, a jury of her peers. More than 90,000 people had signed a petition urging Gov. Nathan Deal to halt her execution, claiming the mother of three has turned her life around and calling her a “powerful voice for good.”

Only 15 female inmates have been put to death in the United States since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The last woman in Georgia was executed by electric chair in 1945.