Kayla Gissendaner was only 7 when her father was stabbed in the
neck and back. She lost her best friend when he died, and as she grew up she
grasped the shocking reality of her family: Her mother had arranged the
gruesome murder.
Consumed with
anger, Kayla stopped visiting her mom, Kelly Gissendaner, in prison. It crushed
her to know that her own mother had taken away the father she adored.
But as time went
by she yearned for answers. Six years ago, she finally sat down with her
mother. It was the first time they talked about the murder. Those difficult
conversations at a Georgia correctional facility began a healing process.
Now, 18 years
after Douglas Gissendaner died, so, too, will Kelly Gissendaner, the first
woman to be executed in Georgia in the last 70 years. And Kayla will be left
without either parent.
On Monday, a
judge denied a motion to stay the execution of Gissendaner. Thomas Thrash,
chief judge of the Northern District of Georgia, also denied a restraining
order to stop the execution. Gissendaner's attorney said she will appeal to the
11th Circuit.
However, the
Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles announced Monday that it will meet at 11
a.m. Tuesday, hours before Gissendaner's execution time, to review a request to
reconsider its previous decision to deny clemency. The board has several
choices: It could let stand its February 26 decision, issue a stay of up to 90
days to further consider the case, or grant clemency and commute the sentence
to life with or without the possibility of parole.
Kelly Gissendaner, 47, was sentenced to death for the 1997 crime
in which she recruited her lover, Gregory Owen, to kill her husband. Her
execution is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday. She's requested a last meal of
cheese dip and chips, Texas fajita nachos and a diet frosted lemonade.
"The nature
of the crime justified the state seeking the ultimate penalty. The jury agreed
with that," said Danny Porter, the district attorney in Georgia's Gwinnett
County. "In the years that have intervened, we have had no reason to
change our position about that."
Gissendaner came
close to execution twice this year. The first time, it was postponed because of
a winter storm; the second time it was called off because of controversy
surrounding the lethal drug cocktail used by the state.
Many feel Gissendaner has lived long enough; that she needs to
pay for her heinous deeds. They include Douglas Gissendaner's parents and
siblings who said they have been seeking justice for the last 18 years. In a
statement issued Monday, they asked that the focus be on him, not the woman who
took away his life.
"As the
murderer, she's been given more rights and opportunity over the last 18 years
than she ever afforded to Doug who, again, is the victim here," the
statement said. "She had no mercy, gave him no rights, no choices, nor the
opportunity to live his life. His life was not hers to take."
But Kelly
Gissendaner's children have been pleading for her life.
"My dad
would not want my mom to be executed, even knowing her role in his
murder," Kayla Gissendaner said in a statement. "He would not want us
to endure another devastating loss."
Those who have
known Kelly Gissendaner in the 18 years since the murder say she has been
transformed.
"I had to
face what my mom had done and find a way to forgive her," Kayla
Gissendaner said. "In the process, I saw that my mom had struggled through
the years to come to grips with what she had done and face her own horror about
her actions."
A second lawsuit
filed on behalf of Gissendaner argues that her behavior in prison was paramount
to her clemency proceedings, but that members of the pardons board never heard
from any prison employees. The suit alleges Gissendaner was deprived of due process
after the warden at Lee Arrendale Prison, Kathleen Kennedy, distributed a memo
instructing her staff at the facility nearly 75 miles northeast of Atlanta not
to speak to "anyone" about Gissendaner.
The clemency
case is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Certainly, many inmates on death rows across the nation have
expressed deep remorse and begged for forgiveness. Many have found God.
By her own
admission, Kelly Gissendaner entered a jail cell as a selfish, angry and
violent person. But she began to study the Bible and eventually earned a degree
in theology. Over the years, she has helped minister to her prison mates.
One of them was
Kara Stephens, who spent 10 years behind bars for armed robbery. Stephens'
children were 2 and 7 when she was convicted. She said she knew she had to stay
strong for them. Gissendaner, she said, showed her the way.
"Kelly told
me God loved me," said Stephens, who started the Struggle Sisters, a
network of formerly incarcerated women. "Kelly taught me to hope."
"I know a
lot of people who deserve to die," said Stephens, who is not anti-death
penalty. "But there is no way Kelly is the same person she was back
then."
Stephens and the
Struggle Sisters have been advocating on Gissendaner's behalf. Their main
concern are her children.
"They are
the ultimate victims in this," Stephens said.
'She is doing so much good there'
Faith leaders have also launched a
campaign to have Gissendaner's death sentence commuted to life without parole
because they believe she is, in the words of the Apostle Paul, "a new
creation." They include Gissendaner's former professor, Jennifer McBride,
and German theologian Jürgen Moltmann, renowned for his work on the theology of
hope.
"If we care
about the prison system being a place of rehabilitation, then she is a success
case," said McBride, who teaches religion at Wartburg College in Iowa. "Kelly has had really a complete
transformation. There is clear
evidence of that in the reconciliation with her children and the day-in and
day-out of how she treats prison staff and her fellow inmates.
"We are not
asking for her to get out of prison," McBride said. "We are asking
for her sentence to be life in prison without parole. That's what she wants.
She wants to stay in prison. She is doing so much good there."
Over the
weekend, a retired Georgia Supreme Court chief justice said he was wrong to
join in a ruling many years ago that upheld Gissendaner's death sentence.
"As part of
that opinion, we concluded that her sentence was proportionate to her role in
the crime. I was wrong," said Norman Fletcher, who has since his days on
the court concluded that the death penalty is "not an appropriate form of
punishment."
"She serves
as a shining example of her faith, which is the product of her own remorse and
devotion, and also a testament to the tremendous success of the reforms we have
made in our prison system," Fletcher said.
Embracing forgiveness
Last March, when Gissendaner came within
hours of execution, she recorded a brief statement for her daughter and sons.
"I just
want to tell my kids that I love them, and I am proud of them," she said.
"And no matter what happens love does beat out hate."
At trial,
Gissendaner's boyfriend testified against her as part of a plea bargain that
got him a life sentence instead of death. Prosecutors argued that the two
plotted the murder so Gissendaner could profit from a pair of $10,000 life
insurance policies and an $84,000 house she shared with her husband.
Douglas
Gissendaner was 30 when he was killed.
"He was my
primary caregiver, and he always made sure that my brothers and I came
first," said Kayla Gissendaner in her statement. "He made sure we
knew what it meant to be unconditionally loved. The night my father was
murdered the world was changed."
She said her
mother struggled to come to terms with her horrific crime. To forgive her
mother, she said, was the best way to honor her father.
No comments:
Post a Comment