'Mississippi's oldest death row inmate' executed after nearly five decades of incarceration

Mississippi on Wednesday (Jun 25) executed a man who spent nearly 50 years on death row. The inmate, identified as 79-year-old Richard Jordan, was executed by lethal injection and was one of the two executions in the United States this week. In 1976, Jordan was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a bank executive in the town of Gulfport. Jordan was the state's oldest and longest-serving death row inmate at the time of his execution, said the Mississippi Department of Corrections in a statement.

Who was Richard Jordan?

Richard Jordan was a death row inmate who was convicted back in 1976 for the kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter. Jordan, as per Mississippi Supreme Court records, called the Gulf National Bank in January 1976, asking to speak with a loan officer. After he was told Charles Marter could speak to him, he hung up the phone before looking up Marter's address. He then kidnapped Edwina Marter, the bank executive's wife, from her home and shot her before calling her husband and demanding a $25,000 ransom. He was arrested when he came to collect the money. Later, he led investigators to her body in a nearby forest.

His case dragged through the courts for decades — four trials and multiple appeals, re-sentencings, and reversals — but ultimately ended with a death sentence being upheld.

Jordan's execution came just a day after Florida put to death Thomas Gudinas, 51, for the 1994 killing of Michelle McGrath. The two executions bring the total in the United States this year to 25. Of those 25, 20 were by lethal injection, two by firing squad, and three by nitrogen gas — a method the UN has condemned as inhumane, reports AFP.

Death Penalty and the US

President Donald Trump is a supporter of the death penalty, and during his re-election. He even called for expanding the death penalty, floating the use of capital punishment for drug dealers and repeat offenders on his first day back in office. However, the death penalty remains a contentious issue in America. 23 of the 50 US states have abolished it entirely, and three others — California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania — have put a formal pause on executions. But in much of the South, executions continue, with growing speed. At seven, Florida leads this year in the number of total executions.