Kelly Gissendaners Last Words Before Being Executed
ATLANTA - The Georgia Department of Corrections released the last words of Kelly Gissendaner before her execution.
A contrite Gissendaner told the family of her former husband, Douglas Gissendaner, that she was sorry for her role in murdering someone she called in the end, a “good man.”
“I just want my kids to know that love still beats out hate. And I want the Gissendaner family to know that I’m sorry and because of me a good man lost his life. And I want to tell my kids I love them so much and I am so proud of them.”
Gissendaner was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her husband. Prosecutors said she plotted with her boyfriend, Gregory Owen, to kill her husband. She was the first woman to be executed in Georgia since 1945.
“And I love you Sally. And I love you Susan. You let my kids know I went out singing Amazing Grace. And tell the Gissendaner family I am so sorry. That amazing man lost his life because of me and if I could take it back, if this would change it, I would have done it a long time ago. But it’s not. And I just hope they find peace. And I hope they find some happiness. God bless you.”
Gissendaner was scheduled to be executed Tuesday at 7 p.m., but that was delayed while her lawyers filed a flurry of last-minute appeals with the high courts of both Georgia and the U.S. She was pronounced dead at 12:21 a.m. Wednesday.