Mississippi prepares to execute its longest-serving inmate on death row.

Richard Gerald Jordan, Mississippi’s longest-serving death row inmate, is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday after nearly five decades behind bars. At 79 years old, this Vietnam veteran, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was convicted in 1976 for the kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter, a bank loan officer’s wife, during a violent ransom attempt. His execution will take place via lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. Jordan is also one of several death row inmates challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol, which they argue is inhumane.

Jordan’s impending execution marks the third execution in Mississippi over the last decade, with the most recent one occurring in December 2022. His execution coincides with a broader trend this year, as the U.S. is seeing an increase in executions not seen since 2015. Jordan’s crimes date back to early 1976. He kidnapped Edwina Marter after calling her husband under the guise of needing a loan.

After taking her into a forest, Jordan murdered her and later contacted her husband to demand a ransom of $25,000. Edwina was a mother of two young children. Eric Marter, her son, has stated that he and his immediate family won’t attend the execution, but other relatives will. He believes that the execution should have occurred long ago.

Throughout his decades-long legal journey, which included multiple trials and appeals, Jordan’s legal team argued that he was denied adequate mental health evaluation during his defense. A recent petition for clemency from Mississippi’s Governor cites Jordan’s wartime trauma as a possible influence on his actions during the crime. However, Eric Marter dismisses these arguments, asserting Jordan’s motives were purely financial. “I know what he did.

He wanted money, and he couldn’t take her with him,” he said.