By Kate Brumback
Associated Press
ATLANTA — A federal judge has declined an emergency request to temporarily halt the Tuesday execution of the only woman on Georgia’s death row.
Lawyers for Kelly Renee Gissendaner had asked U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash to stay the execution and give himself time to rule on their request to reconsider his dismissal of a complaint they filed in March. Gissendaner’s lawyers plan to appeal Monday’s ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Gissendaner was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner. Prosecutors said she conspired with her lover, Gregory Owen, who stabbed Douglas Gissendaner to death. Owen, who took a plea deal and testified against Gissendaner, is serving life in prison and will become eligible for parole in 2022.