The longest-serving man on Mississippi’s death row was executed on Wednesday (June 25, 2025), almost 5 a long time after he kidnapped and killed a financial institution mortgage officer’s spouse in a violent ransom scheme.
Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress dysfunction whose closing appeals have been denied with out remark by the U.S. Supreme Court, was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing and kidnapping Edwina Marter. He died by deadly injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.
The execution started at 6 p.m., in line with jail officers. Jordan lay on the gurney along with his mouth barely ajar and took a number of deep breaths earlier than changing into nonetheless. The time of death was given as 6:16 p.m.
Jordan was certainly one of a number of on the State’s death row who sued the State over its three-drug execution protocol, claiming it’s inhumane.
When given a chance to make a closing assertion on Wednesday, he mentioned, “First I would like to thank everyone for a humane way of doing this. I want to apologize to the victim’s family.”
He additionally thanked his attorneys and his spouse and requested for forgiveness. His final phrases have been: “I will see you on the other side, all of you.”
Jordan’s spouse, Marsha Jordan, witnessed the execution, alongside along with his lawyer Krissy Nobile and a religious adviser, the Rev. Tim Murphy. His spouse and lawyer dabbed their eyes a number of occasions.
During a information convention after the execution, Keith Degruy, a spokesperson for Marter’s household, learn an announcement on behalf of her two sons and husband, who weren’t current at the execution.
“Nothing will bring back our mom, sister and our friend. Nothing can ever change what Jordan took from us 49 years ago. Jordan tried desperately to change his ruling so he can simply die in prison. We never had an option,” he mentioned.
Jordan’s execution was the third in the State in the final 10 years; beforehand the most up-to-date one was carried out in December 2022. It got here a day after a man was put to death in Florida, in what’s shaping as much as be a yr with the most executions since 2015.
Mississippi Supreme Court information present that in January 1976, Jordan known as the Gulf National Bank in Gulfport and requested to talk with a mortgage officer. After he was informed that Charles Marter might converse to him, he hung up. He then appeared up the Marters’ dwelling deal with in a phone guide and kidnapped Edwina Marter.
According to courtroom information, Jordan took her to a forest and fatally shot her earlier than calling her husband, claiming she was secure and demanding $25,000.
Edwina Marter’s husband and two sons had not deliberate to attend the execution. Eric Marter, who was 11 when his mom was killed, mentioned beforehand that different relations would attend.
“It should have happened a long time ago,” Eric Marter informed The Associated Press earlier than the execution. “I’m not really interested in giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
“He needs to be punished,” Mr. Marter mentioned.
As of the starting of the yr, Jordan was certainly one of 22 individuals sentenced in the Nineteen Seventies who have been nonetheless on death row, in line with the Death Penalty Information Center.
His execution ended a decades-long courtroom course of that included 4 trials and quite a few appeals. On Monday (June 23, 2025), the Supreme Court rejected a petition that argued he was denied due course of rights.
“He was never given what for a long time the law has entitled him to, which is a mental health professional that is independent of the prosecution and can assist his defense,” mentioned lawyer Krissy Nobile, director of Mississippi’s Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, who represented Jordan. “Because of that his jury never got to hear about his Vietnam experiences.”
A latest petition asking Gov. Tate Reeves for clemency echoed Nobile’s declare. It mentioned Jordan suffered extreme PTSD after serving three back-to-back excursions, which might have been a think about his crime. Mr. Reeves denied the request.
“His war service, his war trauma, was considered not relevant in his murder trial,” mentioned Franklin Rosenblatt, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, who wrote the petition on Jordan’s behalf. “We just know so much more than we did 10 years ago, and certainly during Vietnam, about the effect of war trauma on the brain and how that affects ongoing behaviors.”
Mr. Marter mentioned he doesn’t purchase that argument: “I know what he did. He wanted money, and he couldn’t take her with him. And he — so he did what he did.”
Published – June 26, 2025 06:37 am IST