The 24th Execution of 2025
Richard Jordan, Mississippi’s longest serving and oldest
death row inmate, died by lethal injection Wednesday evening at the Mississippi
State Penitentiary nearly 50 years after he kidnapped and murdered Edwina
Marter, reported Mississippi Today.
The 79-year-old Vietnam War veteran who experienced
post-traumatic stress disorder was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.
“First I would like to thank everyone for a humane way of
doing this. I want to apologize to the victim’s family,” Jordan said, adding
thanks to his wife and lawyers and asking for forgiveness.
“I love you very much,” he said as his last words. “I will
see you on the other side, all of you.”
Prison officials confirmed Jordan was unconscious after
injecting a sedative before following with injection of two other injection
drugs – a check ordered by
a federal judge who greenlighted the execution late last week. This was part of
a federal lawsuit challenging the lethal injection protocol in which Jordan was
a lead plaintiff.
In January 1976, Jordan found himself desperate for money
and made a plan to kidnap the family member of a bank employee and demand
funds. The Vietnam War veteran had a job lined up and had moved his family to
Louisiana, only to find the position was filled, according to his clemency
petition.
He spent a few days looking for work before calling the
Gulfport bank where Charles Marter worked as the commercial loan agent. Jordan
found the man’s address in the phonebook and went there, posing as an electric
company worker to get the banker’s wife, Edwina, to open the door at gunpoint.
Her toddler son was left unharmed at home.
Jordan had Edwina drive to the DeSoto National Forest. As
she tried to run away, Jordan shot in her direction, hitting her in the head.
Afterwards, he called Edwina’s husband to demand $25,000 in ransom. After two
failed money drops, Jordan was arrested.
He went to trial that year and received a death sentence,
only for it to be overturned multiple times due to questions about the legality
of Mississippi’s death penalty law. It wasn’t until 1998 and four trials later
that the sentence stuck. Then Jordan began years of appeals.
Eric and Kevin Marter, the now-adult sons of Edwina, and her
husband Charles did not travel to Parchman to witness the execution, but
Edwina’s brother planned to attend with help of his family, Kevin Marter
said.
Family members left without offering comment.
Ahead of the execution, Eric Marter said he wanted Jordan’s
sentence to be carried out sooner rather than almost 50 years later after his
mother’s death.
“I don’t want him to get what he wants,” Marter, who was 11
in 1976, said about Jordan’s efforts to fight his death sentence.
Jordan’s wife, Marsha, witnessed the execution along with
his attorney Krissy Nobile of the Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel and
his spiritual adviser, the Rev. Tim Murphy. Such advisers have been allowed to
accompany death row inmates since a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
After the execution, Attorney General Lynn Fitch said her
office has pressed for justice and was pleased to be able to provide the Marter
family, friends and the community with closure.
Leading up to the execution, Jordan petitioned the U.S
Supreme Court and the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to step in. The appeals
court denied a stay of execution Tuesday, and the high court denied request for
a stay and writ of certiorari Wednesday afternoon – about an hour before the
execution.
Tuesday evening, Gov. Tate Reeves reviewed Jordan’s clemency petition and said he would not intervene in
the execution, noting circumstances of the crime, how Jordan admitted his
guilt, multiple trials and appeals.
Frank Rosenblatt, a professor at the Mississippi College
School of Law, submitted the clemency petition
that included letters of support from at least a dozen people, including
Jordan’s wife, his sister and a pastor.
“Richard is all of these things: a patriot; a Vietnam
Veteran; a man of faith; a good son, brother, and friend; and he is an
exemplary inmate who has worked to prevent this type of crime from happening
ever again,” Rosenblatt wrote in Jordan’s petition.
Organizations including Death Penalty Action and Catholic Mobilizing Network circulated petitions that
called on Reeves to stop Jordan’s execution citing similar factors, including
how he experienced post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service.
Death Penalty Action’s petitions were delivered to
the governor’s office Tuesday.
During an afternoon news conference, Parchman Superintendent
Marc McClure said Jordan seemed talkative and was telling stories about his
past. He had been moved to a holding cell Sunday evening, and before the
execution he visited with family, his attorneys and spiritual advisers.
He requested chicken tenders, French fries, strawberry ice
cream and a rootbeer float for his last meal, prison officials said at the
earlier news conference.
Starting in the afternoon, demonstrators gathered outside
Parchman in the Delta and the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson. Death Penalty
Action also hosted a virtual vigil.
Minutes before the execution, a group gathered outside the
prison entrance and offered prayers for Edwina Marter, her family, Jordan and
his family. Among them were Rev.
Jeff Hood, an Arkansas-based spiritual adviser who has accompanied 11 death
row inmates to the execution chamber and has spoken out against the death
penalty.
Jordan’s execution is the third in the past decade, with the
most recent taking place in December
2022.
To read more CLICK HERE
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment