The State Board of Pardons and Paroles will hear a petition for clemency from Kelly Gissendaner just eight hours before she is scheduled to be put to death for planning the 1997 murder of her husband.
In a statement released Monday afternoon the board said it would meet at 11 a.m. Tuesday “to receive and consider supplemental information to be presented by representatives for Kelly Gissendaner. The Parole Board members have thoroughly reviewed a second request received late last week from Gissendaner’s representatives to reconsider its previous decision denying clemency.”
Then the board will decide if it will leave its Feb. 25 decision to deny clemency or if it will issue a stay for up to 90-days to give the case more attention or commute her sentence to life in prison.
Earlier Monday, a federal judge refused to postpone Gissendaner’s execution, now set for 7 p.m. Tuesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas stood by his decision from several weeks ago that Gissendaner’s constitutional protection from cruel and unusual punishment was not violated when her execution set for last March was delayed, reset and ultimately postponed within the space of a day because the lethal injection drugs were cloudy.
Officials were concerned the drugs would not be effective or would cause intense pain if used.
Her attorney, Bo King, said he would file an appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Gissendaner was sentenced to die for plotting her husband’s 1997 murder and then persuading her then lover, Gregory Owen, to do it. Owen kidnapped Douglas Gissendaner at knife-point and forced him to drive to a remote area of Gwinnett County where Owen knocked him unconscious and repeatedly stabbed him in the neck.
Kelly Gissendaner had spent the evening at a bar with friends but she pulled up to the murder scene just as her husband died.
Owen pleaded guilty and testified against her and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Gissendaner rejected the same deal offered Owen and went to trial.
The state put executions on hold in March because the lethal injection drug prepared to put Gissendaner to death then was cloudy and could cause pain or not be effective.
In mid-April, DOC said the drug appeared off because it had been stored in conditions too cold. Otherwise, the drug was fine, Corrections said.
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