Overview

• Richard Gerald Jordan, 79, was put to death by lethal injection at Mississippi State Penitentiary on June 25, marking the state’s third execution in a decade.
• Convicted in 1976 for kidnapping and murdering Edwina Marter, Jordan spent nearly five decades on death row through four trials and numerous appeals.
• At 6:16 p.m., Jordan apologized to the victim’s family, thanked his wife and lawyers and asked for forgiveness in his final statement.
• His lawyers had argued that his Vietnam War service and resulting PTSD were never presented to jurors and challenged Mississippi’s three-drug execution protocol as inhumane.
• With his final appeals denied by the U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Tate Reeves refusing clemency, the execution proceeded as the victim’s son said it was long overdue.