Richard Gerald Jordan: Man who was on death row in Mississippi for almost 50 years executed

A man who was on death row in Mississippi for almost 50 years has been executed.

Richard Gerald Jordan kidnapped and killed Edwina Marter, a stay-at-home mother who was married to a banker, in a violent ransom scheme.

The 79-year-old, a Vietnam War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, died by lethal injection at 6.16pm local time (12.16am UK time) on Wednesday.

Jordan was the longest-serving man on death row in Mississippi – and had sued the state over its three-drug execution protocol, arguing it was inhumane.

When given an opportunity to make a final statement, he said: “First I would like to thank everyone for a humane way of doing this. I want to apologise to the victim’s family.”

Jordan’s wife Marsha and his lawyer Krissy Nobile attended the execution, and dabbed their eyes several times as it took place.

He thanked them both and asked for forgiveness, and his final words were: “I will see you on the other side, all of you.”

Mrs Marter’s husband Charles and her two sons were not present.

This is the third execution to take place in Mississippi over the past 10 years, with the last taking place back in December 2022.

A man was also put to death in Florida on Tuesday, meaning this is shaping up to be the year with the most executions since 2015.

Back in 1976, Jordan had called the Gulf National Bank. An operator said Charles Marter could take the call.

He then hung up and found Mr Marter’s home address in the phone book, and kidnapped his wife Edwina.

According to court records, he fatally shot her in a forest – and then rang Mr Marter to demand a $25,000 ransom for her safe return.

Her son, who was 11 years old at the time of the murder, previously said that the execution “should have happened a long time ago”.

Eric Marter added: “I’m not really interested in giving him the benefit of the doubt. He needs to be punished.”

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Jordan’s lawyer had attempted to argue that a jury never got to hear about his experiences in Vietnam, but her appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

A petition had also asked Mississippi governor Tate Reeves for clemency, and said Jordan suffered severe PTSD after serving three back-to-back tours, which could have been a factor in his crime.

Franklin Rosenblatt from the National Institute of Military Justice said: “His war service, his war trauma, was considered not relevant in his murder trial.

“We just know so much more than we did 10 years ago, and certainly during Vietnam, about the effect of war trauma on the brain and how that affects ongoing behaviours.”

But Eric Marter said he disagreed with this argument, adding: “I know what he did. He wanted money and he couldn’t take her with him. And so he did what he did.”