Former GA Justice Says Woman on Death Row Should Be Spared

Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher said he was wrong when as a justice he ruled years ago upholding the death sentenced of condemned murderer Kelly Renee Gissendaner, upholding her death sentence.

In a statement released during the weekend (see the entire statement below), Fletcher, who retired in 2005, now says it’s “abundantly clear to me” Gissendaner’s life should be spared.

Gissendaner, condemned for masterminding the murder of her husband Douglas in Gwinnett in 1997, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m., Sept. 29, at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. If executed, she would be the first woman put to death in Georgia in 70 years, and the 35th inmate overall to die by lethal injection. She is Georgia’s only woman on death row.

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Fletcher said his reversal of opinion is based on the “disproportionate nature of Ms. Gissendaner’s sentence when compared to that of her co-defendant, Gregory Owen, who actually stabbed Douglas Gissendaner to death.”

Gissendaner, of Auburn, Ga., was convicted of plotting the murder near Dacula in 1997. She was found guilty of convincing Owen, her boyfriend, to murder Douglas on Feb. 7, 1997. She reportedly was not present when the murder was carried out.

Owen, who was sentenced to life in prison, avoided the death penalty by helping prosecutors in the case against Gissendaner. Owen will be eligible for parole in seven years.

Here’s Fletcher’s statement in its entirety:

Kelly Gissendaner is scheduled to be executed September 29, 2015, for her role in the murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner. No matter where one stands on the propriety of the death penalty generally, it is abundantly clear to me that Ms. Gissendaner should not be put to death.

Since retiring from the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia, I have come to the conclusion that the death penalty is not an appropriate form of punishment. But these beliefs do not form the basis of my conviction that Ms. Gissendaner’s life should be spared.

Rather, that judgment rests upon the disproportionate nature of Ms. Gissendaner’s sentence when compared to that of her co-defendant, Gregory Owen, who actually stabbed Douglas Gissendaner to death. Mr. Owen will be eligible for parole in seven years. Ms. Gissendaner was not present when Mr. Gissendaner was killed, but she is scheduled to be executed in less than a week.

As the Supreme Court has held, the death penalty is constitutional only to the extent that it is proportional. The principle of proportionality review is deeply rooted in our legal system, with the fundamental goal of ensuring that the death penalty is not arbitrarily applied. It is especially appropriate to consider proportionality when evaluating cases in which one defendant who is more culpable than another is given a sentence of less than death, while the latter is given the ultimate punishment.

When this issue came before me as a justice, I joined in the ruling against Ms. Gissendaner. As part of that opinion, we concluded that her sentence was proportionate to her role in the crime. I was wrong. In addition, the process we used at the time to conduct proportionality review was deeply flawed, as outlined in an AJC series of articles in 2007.

While Ms. Gissendaner’s sentence was wrong on the day that it was imposed, it is impossible to ignore her work as a true minister of mercy during her years on death row. I am profoundly moved by the testimony of former and current prisoners, prison guards and officials, prison volunteers, and chaplains who have borne witness to the goodwill, hope, and example that she has provided for dozens of inmates in desperate need. She serves as a shining example of her faith, which is the product of her own remorse and devotion, and also a testament to the tremendous success of the reforms we have made in our prison system.

The State of Georgia has not executed a person who did not commit the actual killing since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. There is a reason for this. Kelly Gissendaner should not be the first.

Fletcher’s statement was one of several regarding the scheduled execution, which has been postponed two times previously -- in February due to a winter storm, and in March, when authorities found a cloudy appearance in the drug that was to be used for the lethal injection.

The Gwinnett Daily Post reported former U.S. Rep Bob Barr also released a statement asking Gissendaner’s life be spared.

Also releasing statement were the respective families involved in the case. Two of Kelly Gissendaner’s children were featured in a video asking for a stay of execution. Douglas Gissendaner’s family asked people not to forget who the victim was in the casein a statement sent via the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office.