Additional Coverage:
- Vietnam veteran executed in Mississippi after nearly 50 years on death row for 1976 murder (foxnews.com)
After nearly five decades on death row, Richard Gerald Jordan, 79, was executed Wednesday at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. Jordan, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, was convicted of the 1976 kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter.
The execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Jordan’s final appeals and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves denied his clemency request. Jordan spent his last day with family, lawyers, and spiritual advisors, according to Mississippi State Penitentiary Superintendent Marc McClure.
Edwina Marter’s son, Eric Marter, who was 11 at the time of the murder, stated that neither he, his brother, nor his father planned to attend the execution. “It should have happened a long time ago,” he said. “I’m not really interested in giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
Jordan’s crime stemmed from a ransom scheme targeting bank loan officer Charles Marter. After a brief phone call to the bank, Jordan located the Marter family’s address and abducted Edwina Marter. He fatally shot her in a wooded area and then contacted Charles Marter, falsely claiming his wife was safe and demanding a $25,000 ransom.
Jordan’s case involved four trials and numerous appeals. His lawyers argued that his Vietnam War service and resulting PTSD were not adequately considered during his trials, claiming he was denied due process.
Krissy Nobile, director of Mississippi’s Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, stated that Jordan’s jury never heard about his military experience because he was not provided an independent mental health professional to assist his defense. Jordan was one of 22 people nationwide still on death row for crimes committed in the 1970s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.