The boyfriend who has actually murdered Kelly Gissendaner, gave testimony against Kelly Gissendaner at trial and received a life sentence.
Kelly Gissendaner was also offered a plea, but turned it down and went to trial.
When she lost at trial, she's got a death sentence.
So, a woman was given a death sentence because she had scruples and refused to testify against the person she loved - and was punished for that with death.
The person the woman loved did not have scruples and testified against her - and his life was spared.
During her 18 years on death row, Kelly Gissendaner reportedly did a lot of good things, counseling other prisoners and changing their lives to the better.
I participated in the social media campaign in an attempt to save Kelly Gissendaner's life.
Many people made statements in support of saving Kelly Gissendaner from execution.
Two statements on social media that I read stand out in my mind:
1. a statement of a woman who described how Kelly Gissendaner was in the same prison with the woman's mother and how Kelly Gissendaner's counseling of the woman made her turn her life around on her release from prison, which changed not only her own life to the better, but the life of her entire family. The woman thank Kelly Gissendaner for changing their lives.
2. a statement of an individual who, as I understood, was an employee of the Georgia Department of Corrections who said that that person and other people in the Department are praying for Kelly Gissendaner being saved from execution.
She wasn't.
The Board of Parole rejected parole.
The Governor of the State of Geogia refused to impose a stay or give clemency.
Her attorneys lost in the appellate federal court, in the highest court of the state and THREE applications to the U.S. Supreme Court on her last day of life were rejected.
Moreover, her children who were advocating to save her life because they already lost their father and did not want to lose the remaining parent, were given by the state the cruel "choice":
- either to fight for their mother and present their arguments to the Board of Parole, or
- have their last meeting with their mother before her execution
There were HOURS between the time when the Board of Parole meeting ended and when Kelly Gissendaner was executed.
During those hours the children were still not allowed to see their mother, and Kelly Gissendaner was not allowed to see her children for the last time, too.
Let's sum it up.
Kelly Gissendaner was executed NOT because she masterminded the murder of her husband, because the murderer of her husband was actually given life in prison for testifying against her, so there was no reason not to give her the same.
Kelly Gissendaner was executed:
1. for refusing to testify against the person she loved;
2. for going to trial and thus spending government resources
None of the above actions are offenses punishable by death.
Punishing those acts by death IS cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment.
And - Kelly Gissendaner was denied even the basic human rights of saying goodbye to her children - which was a completely unnecessary cruelty, both to Kelly Gissendaner and to her children.
From this sick experience, I suggest a proposal.
Even if death penalty is not abolished - which it should be, given how arbitrarily it is imposed - once an offer of life is made by the prosecution and turned down by the criminal defendant, the death penalty MUST BE OFF THE TABLE during the trial, because otherwise it sure looks that a criminal defendant is being punished with death for his or her exercise of his constitutional right for a jury trial.
You will then see how quickly the death penalty will stop being used at all, because I have the impression that Kelly Gissendaner was also executed to give leverage to prosecutors in pending and future death penalty cases, to hold the possibility of a death penalty over defendants' heads in order to torture wrongful convictions out of them through pleas.
#kellyonmymind
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