Mississippi man who spent nearly 50 years on death row executed

Richard Jordan was Mississippi’s longest-serving and oldest death row inmate at the time of his execution. Photo / Mississippi Department of Corrections via AFP

A Mississippi man who had been on death row for nearly 50 years was executed by lethal injection today, one of two executions in the United States this week.

Richard Jordan, 79, was convicted in 1976 of the murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a bank executive in the town of Gulfport.

Jordan, a shipyard worker, kidnapped Marter from her home and demanded a US$25,000 ($41,400) ransom.

He was apprehended when he went to pick up the money.

Jordan confessed to murdering Marter and led the authorities to her body, which had been hidden in a forest. She had been shot.

Jordan was pronounced dead at 6.16pm Central Time (11.16am Thursday NZT) at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, according to a statement issued by the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

He was Mississippi’s longest-serving and oldest death row inmate at the time of his execution, the statement said.

His execution came one day after that of Thomas Gudinas, 51, who was put to death by lethal injection in Florida on Wednesday.

Gudinas was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of Michelle McGrath, who was last seen leaving a bar in the city of Orlando in the early hours.

McGrath’s battered body was found the next day, and Gudinas was arrested shortly afterwards.

Florida has carried out more executions – seven – than any other US state so far this year.

The execution in Mississippi was the first in the southern state since December 2022.

There have been 25 executions in the United States this year: 20 by lethal injection, two by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.

The use of nitrogen gas as an execution method has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others – California, Oregon and Pennsylvania – have moratoriums in place.

President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment, and on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

- Agence France-Presse