Georgia Set To Perform Execution Of Only Female On Death Row: Kelly Renee Gissendaner
03-02-2015, 01:46 AM
Meet Kelly Renee Gissendaner:
![[Image: Kelly-Renee-Gissendaner-jpg.jpg]](http://www.news4jax.com/image/view/-/31178442/medRes/2/-/maxh/360/maxw/640/-/10de1gf/-/Kelly-Renee-Gissendaner-jpg.jpg)
This strapping young lass is an inmate of the state of Georgia's correctional facilities and is set to be executed by the state tomorrow. She was convicted her murdering her husband in the late '90's. Her execution was initially scheduled for today, but was delayed by "weather and associating scheduling issues."
Her crimes are nothing as salacious as one might expect for a female facing the ultimate price for a crime. She hatched a plot to murder her husband (Doug) and collect on life insurance policies/the family home. As expected, she didn't have the enough stones to do the dirty deed herself, she tasked her boyfriend (Gregory) to murder her husband.
The murder itself was fairly grisly. On a "girl's night out" for Kelly, she dropped off Gregory at her home. Gregory confronted Doug and forced him at knife-point into a car. He drove Doug to a remote area in rural Georgia, where he forced him out of the car. Gregory lead Doug at knife-point to some distance into the woods, forced him onto his knees and beat him senseless with a billy club and stabbed him in the back and neck.
Kelly showed up and helped cover up the crime by torching the car used to transport Doug to the remote woods.
Doug's body wasn't found till about two weeks later. Gregory flipped state's evidence quickly and copped to a plea that let him avoid the death penalty. However, he testified against Kelly and his testimony helped prosecutors secure a conviction and a death penalty sentence.
For Georgia's part, only one other woman has been executed (a black maid in 1945) in the state since electrocution was introduced in the state in 1924. As you might already expect, executions are rare enough and ones of women are exceedingly rare. If any of the lawyers on the forum care, here is a link to the state's supreme court decision upholding her conviction and sentence.
Commentary on women and the death penalty by a retired law professor:
Frankly, when I read about this execution in a short blurb in the USA Today this evening, I was surprised to see that Kelly's story wasn't all that salacious. Sure, leading a man to his death by knife-point certainly qualifies as some depraved behavior, but there was only one victim. This doesn't seem to be the most judicious exercise of capital punishment.
Regardless, Georgia is set to execute the state's only female on death row tomorrow.
![[Image: Kelly-Renee-Gissendaner-jpg.jpg]](http://www.news4jax.com/image/view/-/31178442/medRes/2/-/maxh/360/maxw/640/-/10de1gf/-/Kelly-Renee-Gissendaner-jpg.jpg)
This strapping young lass is an inmate of the state of Georgia's correctional facilities and is set to be executed by the state tomorrow. She was convicted her murdering her husband in the late '90's. Her execution was initially scheduled for today, but was delayed by "weather and associating scheduling issues."
Her crimes are nothing as salacious as one might expect for a female facing the ultimate price for a crime. She hatched a plot to murder her husband (Doug) and collect on life insurance policies/the family home. As expected, she didn't have the enough stones to do the dirty deed herself, she tasked her boyfriend (Gregory) to murder her husband.
The murder itself was fairly grisly. On a "girl's night out" for Kelly, she dropped off Gregory at her home. Gregory confronted Doug and forced him at knife-point into a car. He drove Doug to a remote area in rural Georgia, where he forced him out of the car. Gregory lead Doug at knife-point to some distance into the woods, forced him onto his knees and beat him senseless with a billy club and stabbed him in the back and neck.
Kelly showed up and helped cover up the crime by torching the car used to transport Doug to the remote woods.
Doug's body wasn't found till about two weeks later. Gregory flipped state's evidence quickly and copped to a plea that let him avoid the death penalty. However, he testified against Kelly and his testimony helped prosecutors secure a conviction and a death penalty sentence.
For Georgia's part, only one other woman has been executed (a black maid in 1945) in the state since electrocution was introduced in the state in 1924. As you might already expect, executions are rare enough and ones of women are exceedingly rare. If any of the lawyers on the forum care, here is a link to the state's supreme court decision upholding her conviction and sentence.
Commentary on women and the death penalty by a retired law professor:
Quote:Quote:
Victor Streib, a retired Ohio Northern University law professor and an expert on the death penalty for women, said it's clear that women are condemned to die far less frequently than men, but that there are so few cases that it's tough to draw any general conclusions.
"Statistically, yes, if you've got two cases and everything about them is exactly the same and one case is a woman and the other case is a man, the man is more likely to be sentenced to death," Streib said, but added that he wouldn't count on that as a legal strategy.
One reason women aren't sentenced to death as often is that they don't commit as many murders and when they do they generally aren't the "worst of the worst" murders that lead to the death penalty, Streib said.
Juries may also be more likely to believe a woman was emotionally distressed or not in her right mind at the time of a killing, which can spare them a death sentence, he said.
Frankly, when I read about this execution in a short blurb in the USA Today this evening, I was surprised to see that Kelly's story wasn't all that salacious. Sure, leading a man to his death by knife-point certainly qualifies as some depraved behavior, but there was only one victim. This doesn't seem to be the most judicious exercise of capital punishment.
Regardless, Georgia is set to execute the state's only female on death row tomorrow.