Longest-serving Miss. death row inmate Richard Gerald Jordan thankful for humane execution

The longest-serving man on Mississippi’s death row was executed Wednesday, nearly five decades after he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer’s wife in a violent ransom scheme.Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder whose final appeals were denied without comment by the US Supreme Court, was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing and kidnapping Edwina Marter.He died by lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.The execution began at 6 p.m., according to prison officials.

Jordan lay on the gurney with his mouth slightly ajar and took several deep breaths before becoming still.The time of death was given as 6:16 p.m.Jordan was one of several on the state’s death row who sued the state over its three-drug execution protocol, claiming it is inhumane.When given an opportunity to make a final statement Wednesday, he said, “First I would like to thank everyone for a humane way of doing this.

I want to apologize to the victim’s family.”He also thanked his lawyers and his wife and asked for forgiveness.His last words were: “I will see you on the other side, all of you.”Jordan’s execution was the third in the state in the last 10 years; previously the most recent one was carried out in December 2022.It came a day after a man was put to death in Florida, in what is shaping up to be a year with the most executions since 2015.Mississippi Supreme Court records show that in January 1976, Jordan called the Gulf National Bank in Gulfport and asked to speak with a loan officer.

After he was told that Charles Marter could speak to him, he hung up.He then looked up the Marters’ home address in a telephone book and kidnapped Edwina Marter.According to court records, Jordan took her to a forest and fatally shot her before calling her husband, claiming she was safe and demanding $25,000.Edwina Marter’s husband and two sons had not planned to attend the execution.

Eric Marter, who was 11 ...