US state of Georgia executes first woman in 70 years, despite Pope Francis appeal

 

Gissendaner was the first woman to be executed in the southern state since 1945, and the 16th nationwide since the Supreme Court re-established the death penalty in 1976.

If you wanted proof that the death penalty is torture, look no further than Kelly Gissendaner waiting hours to see if shell live or die, Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and anti-death penalty advocate, wrote on her Twitter account.
Hers was the first execution of a US inmate since Pope Francis called for the global abolition of the death penalty in his speech to the US Congress last week.
The popes personal representative sent a letter to Georgias parole board on Tuesday making an urgent appeal to commute Gissendaners sentence to one that would better express both justice and mercy.
The outcome illustrates one of the fundamental flaws with the death penalty its applied arbitrarily, said Steven Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International, which is among a number of groups that called for her sentence to be commuted to life in prison.
This was the third time Gissendaners children and supporters had gone through the ordeal of a death watch.
On Thursday, Virginia is scheduled to put to death Alfredo Prieto, a Salvadoran immigrant who was convicted of three murders and linked to six others.