Kelly Gissendaner is the only woman on death row in Georgia, and is set to be executed today. Meanwhile, the man with whom she committed the crime is not facing the death penalty.
A woman convicted of plotting to murder her husband is set to be executed this week in Georgia, USA — the state’s first execution of a woman in 70 years.
According to The Chicago Tribune, Kelly Gissendaner, 47, was found guilty of plotting to murder her husband, Douglas Gissendaner, in 1997.
Kelly’s lover, Gregory Owen, stabbed Douglas Gissendaner several times at the request of his lover.
Prosecutors would later allege that Ms Gissendaner pushed her boyfriend to kill her husband, as opposed to getting the divorce Owen had suggested.
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Ms Gissendaner was sentenced to death by lethal injection, while Owen is serving a lesser life sentence for his role in the crime after he agreed to testify against her in court.
Her execution was supposed to take place last week in Jackson, but was postponed due to snow.
Failing clemency, Ms Gissander will be executed on Monday night.
Gissendaner’s execution has sparked outrage from members of the public, who — like her lawyers — believe it is unfair to execute Ms Gissendaner, while her lover — who actually stabbed Mr Gissendaner — is serving a lesser sentence.
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Since the Supreme Court re-introduced the death penalty in 1967, only 15 women have been executed in America. This compares to approximately 1400 men, The Chicago Tribune reports.
What are your thoughts on the death penalty?
Top Comments
Whenever I read articles like this one implying that killing a woman on death row is so much more inhumane than killing man, I wonder if we draw our feminist equality line at a particularly convenient spot.
I don't see much difference between arranging for a murder, and being the murderer. Should Hitler (had he survived) received a lesser penalty than the men he commanded because he didn't hit the on-switch on the gas chamber?
That said, as I am opposed to the death penalty altogether, I hope her sentence is commuted.
'What are your thoughts on the death penalty'?..... I think we definitely need to re-introduce it here in Australia. In cases where there is no shadow of a doubt, like with Ivan Milat & Martin Bryant, I think it is a much better option than tax payers having to support these degenerates for the rest of their lives.
In addition, I think all paedophiles should face the death penalty as well. Any psychologist will tell you that there is no cure for paedophilia. No amount of rehabilitation will make a difference to their condition. Knowing this, I think it is necessary for the safety of the general public to execute these offenders. It would sure make a lot more sense than the current system which has tax payers supporting them until they are released on bail, only to go out and re-offend, destroying more innocent lives like that of Daniel Morcombe and thousands of other unfortunate, innocent children.
As for this particular story, if you are going to orchestrate a murder then you should expect the death penalty. Should the boyfriend have got off because his girlfriend 'nagged' him into murder? No, definitely not but the deal they did for his testimony was probably required to get any conviction at all. You can blame the legal system for his escape from the chair. As for her, she is getting what she deserves.
No. The death penalty is barbaric, unethical and has no place in modern society. Evidence has shown that it does not act as a deterrent to crime anyway, Amnesty quotes a study in Canada that found that after abolishing the death penalty, there was a 44% drop in murders across the county.
"To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, it is not justice" - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
What about paedphiles who have never offended?
Just wanted to let you know that it actually costs taxpayers in the US more to execute a prisoner than it does to house them in prison for the rest of their lives. This is due to lengthy appeals processes and subsequent legal costs. Appeals are obviously important in a modern day justice system.
Basically, taxpayer financial burden is not a reason to reintroduce the death penalty.
I realise you discussed other things in your post but I just wanted to address this one point. Thanks :)
Agree 100% with everything you said..... the only thing i feel about putting to death people that have commited heinous crimes is they dont get to suffer locked away for many yrs sadly the trade off is we pay to keep them incarcerated an they take up space that other vile insidious individuals could be ...Sadly in Australia we are running out of places to put these "things"as the world grows more evil by the day.............. :(