Georgia to execute woman despite Pope Francis’ appeal

In his speech to members of Congress last week, Francis encouraged ending the death penalty.

"The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development," he said. "This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty."

Two of Kelly Renee Gissendaner's three children asked the board earlier this year to spare their mother's life. Her eldest, Brandon Brookshire, who did not previously address the board, now wants to make a plea for her life, said Susan Casey, an attorney for Gissendaner.

The parole board, which is the only entity in Georgia authorized to commute a death sentence, declined to spare Gissendaner's life after a clemency hearing in February. 

Her original execution date was postponed in March after prison officials found their stock of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital — which was to be used in her execution — was cloudy. Her lawyers submitted another clemency request last Thursday to reconsider the denial of clemency.

In that request for reconsideration, Gissendaner's lawyers cited a statement from former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher, who argued that her death sentence is not proportionate to her role in the crime. Owen is serving a life sentence in prison and will be eligible for parole in 2022.

Fletcher said he has decided he was wrong in voting to deny Gissendaner's appeal in 2000 when he sat on the state Supreme Court, the statement said. He noted that Georgia hasn't executed a person who didn't actually carry out a killing since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Her lawyers argue that she was a seriously damaged woman who has undergone a spiritual transformation while in prison and has been a model prisoner who has shown remorse and provided hope to other inmates in their personal struggles.

The new request for reconsideration included testimony from several women who were locked up as teens and said Gissendaner counseled them through times when they felt scared, lost or on the verge of giving up hope. 

But Douglas Gissendaner's family said in a statement released Monday that he was the victim and that Kelly Gissendaner received an appropriate sentence.

"As the murderer, she's been given more rights and opportunity over the last 18 years than she ever afforded to Doug who, again, is the victim here," the statement says. "She had no mercy, gave him no rights, no choices, nor the opportunity to live his life."

Georgia Archbishop Wilton Gregory held a news conference Tuesday before the decision was announced, appealing to halt the execution. When asked what the Vatican's reaction would be if the appeal was denied, he said, “Sorrow that another individual’s life has been taken. Sorrow that another family has suffered the loss of a loved one. Sorrow that our nation continues to feel that it must impose this type of penalty.” He added that there was still “hope that other jurisdictions will remove the death penalty.” 

Al Jazeera and the Associated Press