Kelly Gissendaner execution may have pushed through on Monday, March 2 at 7 p.m., but it didn't. She is the only woman in Georgia's death row since 1945 and the 16th woman lined up for death penalty since 1976. However, Kelly Gissendaner execution was halted due to lethal injection drug issues.
It may have been her luckiest day. Prior to Kelly Gissendaner execution, she requested a no-holds-barred meal. She made headlines as she received her request of two Burger King Whoppers, two large orders of fries, cornbread, a salad drenched in buttermilk dressing, popcorn and cherry-vanilla ice cream.
Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 46, was due to receive lethal injection as a state justice for plotting the murder of his husband in 1997.
After proving that she was guilty for the criminal offense, she was scheduled for death sentence while her boyfriend, Gregory Owen who stabbed her husband is scheduled for parole in 2023, Daily Mail reports.
Aside from her request of large meal, she didn't drop the hope that her lawyers will be able to convince Georgia's justice system for a last-minute stay of execution. Her lawyers were working to convince Jackson Justice System to make it sentence to life without parole instead of Kelly Gissendaner execution.
According to NBC News, prior to Kelly Gissendaner execution, the lethal drugs were submitted for independent laboratory examination where it showed the drugs were on acceptable testing limits. However, problem occurred hours before the death penalty when the drug appeared cloudy.
Pentobarbital are the drugs usually use for executions. However, it was no longer available and so Jackson has to use compounded lethal drugs made by specialty pharmacies. With delayed Kelly Gissendaner execution, the issue of using compounded drugs was again taken into limelight.
Before Kelly Gissendaner execution decision was made final, Gissendaner faced trials where she was even offered the same tribulation as Gregory Owen. She was also granted clemency on four cases as the International Business Times reports.
However, Kelly Gissendaner execution final decision was made by the U.S. Supreme Court after the state Board of Pardons and Paroles and the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals denied clemency bids twice in one week and the request to stay of the execution.
Kelly Gissendaner even wrote in previous statement, "I deserve to be here, but I don't deserve to die."
The family of Mr. Gissendaner wants Kelly Gissendaner execution to push through.
However, two of Gissendaner's daughters had previously submitted a parole to spare her life from death penalty. In the request they mentioned they went through bitterness, anger to forgiveness and that they had developed a meaningful relationship with their mother.
Her lawyers also mentioned that Kelly Gissendaner execution must not push through and that the state justice system must consider her change of heart. She had renewed her faith and she finished a theology program in 2011 while in prison.