Last month, the judge ruled against Gissendaner, one of 54 women on death row in the United States.
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More than 100 protesters were gathered outside the prison where Gissendaner was to be executed, pleading with officials to spare the mother-of-three’s life.
The Board of Pardons and Paroles, the only entity authorized to commute a death sentence has denied clemency to Gissendaner.
Gissendaner’s lawyers filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, saying her constitutional protection from cruel and unusual punishment was violated when she was prepared for her execution then was told it would not happen and then that it would and again that it would not. Prosecutors said that Gissendaner and her lover Gregory Owen stabbed her husband to death.
“She’s saved people’s lives”, Dakota Gissendaner said, referring to inmates his mother has helped guide and minister in prison.
Gissendaner was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her husband.
“My brothers and I lost one parent”.
There have been no executions in Georgia since. In a March statement, the family said: “We, along with our friends and supporters and our faith, will continue fighting for Doug until he gets the justice he deserves no matter how long it takes”‘.
Before the second scheduled procedure in March, Gissendaner ate what was meant to be her last meal: two Burger King Whoppers, two large portions of fries, cornbread, a salad drenched in buttermilk, popcorn and cherry-vanilla ice cream. “We can’t imagine losing our mom, too”.
Corrections officials in April released lab reports, a sworn statement from a pharmacological expert hired by the state and a short video showing a syringe of clear liquid with chunks of a white solid floating in the solution. Kelly Renee Gissendaner’s death was postponed earlier this year because of a problem with the lethal injection drug. The Department of Corrections sets the specific time and date, usually at 7 p.m. on the first day specified in the warrant, which would be September 29.
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In the interim, a federal lawsuit challening her execution was pending and last month the judge dismissed it.
