Georgia Executes Woman on Death Row Despite Pope Francis' Pleas; Woman Sings 'Amazing Grace' During Execution

By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Supporters of Kelly Gissendaner hold signs with an image and quote from Pope Francis as they wait for the execution of Gissendaner at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia, September 29, 2015. Georgia's parole board denied a request for clemency by Gissendaner, the lone woman on the state's death row, just hours before her scheduled execution on Tuesday for her role in her husband's murder. Board members also did not appear moved by a letter sent by an archbishop on behalf of Pope Francis urging them to commute the inmate's death sentence.

Daniel Kolber, a supporter of Kelly Gissendaner, awaits the execution of Gissendaner at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia September 29, 2015. Georgia's parole board denied a request for clemency by Gissendaner, the lone woman on the state's death row, just hours before her scheduled execution on Tuesday for her role in her husband's murder.

(L to R) Dorinda Tatum, Rev. Michelle Ledder and Minister Cassandra Henderson react after hearing the news of the execution of Kelly Gissendaner at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia early September 30, 2015. Georgia executed the only woman on the state's death row early on Wednesday, marking the first time in 70 years the state has carried out a death sentence on a woman, a television station reported. Gissendaner, 47, died by injection at 12:21 a.m. EDT at a prison in Jackson, Georgia, the Atlanta television station WSB-TV reported on its website.

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The state of Georgia has executed a woman despite last-minute pleas for mercy, including one from Roman Catholic Church leader Pope Francis. The woman reportedly sang the Christian anthem "Amazing Grace" as she was put to death via lethal injection, witnesses said.

NBC News reported that Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 47, was executed shortly after midnight on Wednesday. Gissendaner had been put on death row for the 1997 stabbing murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner, at the hands of her lover. She became the first woman executed by the state in 70 years.

Gregory Owen, who carried out the killing, is serving a life prison sentence, and is not eligible for parole until 2022.

Gissendaner, a mother of three, apparently sang the lyrics to "Amazing Grace" as she was administered the lethal dose, and called the victim an "amazing man who died because of me."

The pope had asked for state officials to spare the woman's life, it has been reported.

"While not wishing to minimize the gravity of the crime for which Ms. Gissendander has been convicted, and while sympathizing with the victims, I nonetheless implore you, in consideration of the reasons that have been expressed to your board, to commute the sentence to one that would better express both justice and mercy," Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano wrote on the pontiff's behalf.

The Roman Catholic Church is a strong opponent of capital punishment, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has been pushing to put an end to the practice in America.

While Gissendaner's children had asked for their mother's life to be spared, the husband's relatives argued that she didn't deserve clemency.

"In the last 18 years, our mission has been to seek justice for Doug's murder and to keep his memory alive. We have faith in our legal system and do believe that Kelly has been afforded every right that our legal system affords," Douglas Gissendaner's family said in a statement.

"As the murderer, she's been given more rights and opportunity over the last 18 years than she ever afforded to Doug, who, again, is the victim here. She had no mercy, gave him no rights, no choices, nor the opportunity to live his life. His life was not hers to take."

The Associated Press added that Gissendaner expressed her love for her children, and wished them peace and happiness before she was executed.

"I just want to say God bless you all and I love you, Susan. You let my kids know I went out singing 'Amazing Grace,'" Gissendaner told her lawyer, Susan Casey.

The pontiff said in October 2014 that Christians must stand up against not only the death penalty, but life imprisonment as well.

"It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples' lives from an unjust aggressor," Francis said at a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law.

"All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment," the pope added. "Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty."

However, Rev.David Gushee, distinguished university professor of Christian Ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University, wrote in an article for Religion News Service that the "largely Baptist power structure of Georgia state government" does not agree with Catholicism on the death penalty.

"[It] has not yet been persuaded that unchanging faith — that those who kill must die — might now need to be changed in a changing world," he wrote.