Mississippi sets an execution date for a man who's been on death row since 1976
Mississippi 's longest-serving death row inmate is set to be executed on June 25, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Richard Gerald Jordan, 78, who was sentenced to death in 1976 for kidnapping and killing a woman, has filed multiple death sentence appeals, the most recent of which was denied in October.
The Mississippi ruling comes on the same day Army Combat veteran Jeffrey Hutchinson was scheduled to be executed in Florida. Before Thursday, 14 people had been executed in the U.S., including three in Florida.
The order did not specify the manner in which Jordan will be executed. Mississippi law allows death sentences to be carried out using lethal injection, nitrogen gas, electrocution or firing squad.
According to Mississippi Supreme Court records, Jordan kidnapped Edwina Marter in January 1976 and shot her to death in a forest in Harrison County. He then called her husband, Charles Marter, falsely claimed she was safe and asked for $25,000.
Records show that before the killing Jordan had traveled from Louisiana to Gulfport, Mississippi and called the Gulf National Bank, where Charles Marter worked as a loan officer. After he was told Marter could speak with him, he hung up, looked up the Marters' home address and went to the house posing as an electric company employee.
'After due consideration, the Court finds Jordan has exhausted all state and federal remedies for purposes of setting an execution,' the ruling read.
Mississippi's last execution was in December 2022.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Richard Gerald Jordan: Man who was on death row in Mississippi for almost 50 years executed
A man who was on death row in Mississippi for almost 50 years has been executed. Richard Gerald Jordan kidnapped and killed Edwina Marter, a stay-at-home mother who was married to a banker, in a violent ransom scheme. The 79-year-old, a Vietnam War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, died by lethal injection at 6.16pm local time (12.16am UK time) on Wednesday. Jordan was the longest-serving man on death row in Mississippi - and had sued the state over its three-drug execution protocol, arguing it was inhumane. When given an opportunity to make a final statement, he said: "First I would like to thank everyone for a humane way of doing this. I want to apologise to the victim's family." Jordan's wife Marsha and his lawyer Krissy Nobile attended the execution, and dabbed their eyes several times as it took place. He thanked them both and asked for forgiveness, and his final words were: "I will see you on the other side, all of you." Mrs Marter's husband Charles and her two sons were not present. 1:00 This is the third execution to take place in Mississippi over the past 10 years, with the last taking place back in December 2022. A man was also put to death in Florida on Tuesday, meaning this is shaping up to be the year with the most executions since 2015. Back in 1976, Jordan had called the Gulf National Bank. An operator said Charles Marter could take the call. He then hung up and found Mr Marter's home address in the phone book, and kidnapped his wife Edwina. According to court records, he fatally shot her in a forest - and then rang Mr Marter to demand a $25,000 ransom for her safe return. Her son, who was 11 years old at the time of the murder, previously said that the execution "should have happened a long time ago". Eric Marter added: "I'm not really interested in giving him the benefit of the doubt. He needs to be punished." 6:14 Jordan's lawyer had attempted to argue that a jury never got to hear about his experiences in Vietnam, but her appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court. A petition had also asked Mississippi governor Tate Reeves for clemency, and said Jordan suffered severe PTSD after serving three back-to-back tours, which could have been a factor in his crime. Franklin Rosenblatt from the National Institute of Military Justice said: "His war service, his war trauma, was considered not relevant in his murder trial. "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 behaviours." But Eric Marter said he disagreed with this argument, adding: "I know what he did. He wanted money and he couldn't take her with him. And so he did what he did."
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Mexico's top court orders release of Ayotzinapa missing students case file
MEXICO CITY, June 25 (Reuters) - Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the attorney general's office to release a public version of its investigation file into the 2014 disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College, one of the country's worst human rights atrocities. The case has been marred by missteps and interference, with Mexico's former top prosecutor arrested in 2022 in relation to the case. The court ruling, prompted by a request from a private citizen, requires the file to be made available on the prosecutor's website with confidential data redacted. For more than a decade, the government has promised action in finding those responsible, with investigations publishing varying accounts of what happened to the students from the southern state of Guerrero. In 2022, investigators acknowledged that local, state and federal officials had played a role in covering up their disappearance. International probes have ruled they were likely kidnapped and killed by organized crime members in cahoots with police. The attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling. The Supreme Court did not specify a deadline for compliance. Victims' families have long pressed for justice, though no one has been convicted in connection to the case.
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- The Guardian
Costa Rican court orders government to free migrants who were deported by US
A court in Costa Rica has ordered authorities to release foreign migrants who were locked up in a shelter after being deported by the US, according to a resolution issued on the eve of a visit by the US secretary of homeland security. About 200 people from Afghanistan, Iran, Russia as well as from Africa and some other Asian countries, including 80 children, were brought to the Central American nation in February under an agreement with the US administration of Donald Trump, a move criticized by human rights organizations. By partially accepting an appeal filed in March on behalf of the migrants, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice gave immigration 15 days to process the 'determination of the immigration status of the deportees' and their release, according to the resolution seen by AFP. The migrants were detained in February at the Temporary Migrant Care Center (CATEM), 360km (220 miles) south of San José, on the border with Panama. However, in the face of criticism, the government allowed them to move freely outside the center in April. Some accepted voluntary repatriation, but about 28 of them remain at CATEM, 13 of them minors, according to official data. The habeas corpus petition continued until it was resolved Tuesday, and would serve as a precedent to prevent a similar agreement. The court also ordered Costa Rican authorities to 'determine what type of health, education, housing, and general social assistance they require from the State'. The resolution was published one day before a visit by US secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem, who will meet with president Rodrigo Chaves and tour the Los Lagos temporary immigration detention center. In March, an Afghan woman behind bars at CATEM told AFP she had fled her country because she wanted to study and work and not be forced to live with a man. She said if she was forced to return to Afghanistan, 'the Taliban will kill her'. The Taliban authorities' crackdown on women's rights has led to the arbitrary arrest and detention of many women and girls in Afghanistan. In addition to Costa Rica, Trump sent 300 deportees, mostly Asians, to Panama and 252 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, accused without evidence of being members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang. They were imprisoned in a Salvadoran mega-prison for gang members.
