Theologians Claim Death Row Inmate as One of Their Own

[cbayer]

http://religiondispatches.org/does-god-love-theologians-more-than-other-death-row-inmates/

BY SARAH MORICE-BRUBAKER MARCH 20, 2015



The story of Kelly Gissendaner has both showcased the promise of public theology—and spurred self-reflection among those of us who do it.

Gissendaner is a Georgia woman who was sentenced to death in 1998 for conspiring to murder her husband. She was scheduled to be executed in late February, but her execution was postponed because of bad weather. It was postponed again in early March because the lethal injection drugs appeared cloudy.

While in prison, Ms. Gissendaner enrolled in a theological studies program for prisoners, where she studied with Jennifer McBride at Emory University. Through Professor McBride, as Mark Oppenheimer reports in the New York Times, Gissendaner became pen pals with Jürgen Moltmann, one of the world’s most respected theologians.

As her execution date neared, many other Christians—famous and non-famous—offered their support, and appealed to Georgia Governor Deal for clemency. Her theology teacher, Dr. McBride, created this video to introduce people to Gissendaner’s cause. Prominent Christian author and activist Shane Claiborne speculated that direct divine intervention may have caused the injection drugs to turn cloudy. Evangelical left leader Tony Campolo voiced his support.

more at link

[immoderate]

1. If I could avoid death, I'd say I was religious. Even wear a funny hat.

--imm

[cbayer]

2. Are you saying that her belief is not sincere?

[immoderate]

3. Dunno. But mine wouldn't be.

Trading a belief for preferential treatment doesn't require sincerely does it?

--imm

[cbayer]

4. There is evidence to support that many in prison claim

religious affiliation in order to access some perks, so I think you are not alone.

But this particular woman goes far beyond that, and I don't think she is a member of that group.

[immoderate]

5. She may well be sincere.

I wonder how she would be if she didn't have to face execution. Let me throw in that I consider the death penalty barbaric. And of course, I decry any perks for prisoners because they express religion.

--imm

[cbayer]

6. Don't know how she might be different if she weren't facing the death penalty.

I also abhor the death penalty and note that the religious have been on forefront of the fight against it.

As to the perks associated with religious affiliation in prison, that's going to be harder to address.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. direct divine intervention may have caused the injection drugs to turn cloudy.

that god is such a joker. he could just let Kelly out of jail, but no, ever the shy god, his omnipotence only acts in obscure and unverifiable ways.

I hate the death penalty. Hope this woman is not another victim.

[Cartoonist]

8. I would like to address a different aspect of this case

Which may or may not be relevant because of missing information. I went to the link but there was no explanation of why she conspired to murder her husband.

Was she a battered wife? I feel that there should be some sort of "Stand Your Ground" legislation for battered women. While murder is bad, women are usually on the wrong end of it. Restraining orders are seldom effective. Sometimes they are what triggers the final act of violence.

Make me Governor and I will pardon any woman who murdered her abuser. A few such murders will teach men to think twice about commiting violence towards a woman. As I said, I don't like murder, but nothing else men have proposed is doing anything to lessen its occurence.

[cbayer]

10. She had a lover and convinced him to stab her husband to death.

They wanted the life insurance policy and the house. She was involved in setting the car on fire to remove the evidence, but was not involved in the actual murder.

Her boyfriend testified against her and got a life sentence.

There are many legal options when someone kills in self defense, and this includes battered women.

There is absolutely no evidence of physical abuse in this case.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. Stand your ground absolutely applies to battered spouses.

That was not the case in this particular murder.

[AtheistCrusader]

9. I oppose the death penalty. However, her situation is irrelevant to the continuance/abolishment of

the death penalty. They ALL get a continuance, or let it ride.

I note she didn't spare her husband's life.

[struggle4progress]

12. GISSENDANER v. The STATE

Supreme Court of Georgia.
GISSENDANER v. The STATE.
No.?S00P0289.
Decided: July 5, 2000

... Gissendaner and the victim had been married, divorced, remarried, separated, and reunited between 1989 and 1997. ? Ms. Gissendaner was in a relationship with Gregory Bruce Owen and at one point stated to a co-worker that she was unhappy with her husband and in love with Owen.

Prior to Gissendaner's trial, Owen entered an agreement not to seek parole within 25 years, pled guilty, and received a sentence of life in prison. ? Owen testified at Gissendaner's trial that it was she who first raised the idea of murder and that she later raised the idea again several other times. ? Owen suggested divorce as an alternative, but Gissendaner insisted upon murder because she believed she would receive insurance money from her husband's death and because she believed he “wouldn't leave [her] alone by just divorcing him.” ? Gissendaner had previously stated to Owen's sister that she intended to use the victim's credit to get a house and then “get rid of him.”

During the days leading up to the murder, Gissendaner made 47 telephone calls to Owen and paged him 18 times. ? Telephone records also showed that the pair were together at a bank of payphones several hours before the murder.

On the evening of February 7, 1997, Gissendaner drove Owen to her family's home, gave him a nightstick and a large knife, and left him inside the home to wait for the victim. ? Gissendaner then drove to a friend's house, and, upon Gissendaner's insistence that the group keep their plans for the evening, she and her friends went out to a nightclub.

The victim arrived home shortly after 10:00 p.m. ? Owen confronted the victim from behind, held a knife to his throat, forced him to drive to a remote location, forced him to walk into the woods and kneel, and then killed him by striking him with the nightstick and then stabbing him repeatedly in the back and neck with the knife. ? As instructed by Gissendaner, Owen took the victim's watch and wedding ring before killing him to make the murder appear like a robbery.

Gissendaner returned home from the nightclub at about the time the murder was being carried out, paged Owen with a numeric signal, and then drove to the crime scene. ? After inquiring if her husband was dead, she took a flashlight and went toward the body to inspect it. ? Owen burned the victim's automobile with kerosene provided by Gissendaner, and the pair returned to their respective homes in Gissendaner's automobile. ? Owen disposed of the nightstick, the knife, a pair of his own jeans, and the victim's stolen jewelry by placing them in the garbage. ? A pair of Owen's sweat pants also worn on the night of the murder was recovered, however, and DNA analysis of blood found on them showed a likely match with the victim's and Owen's blood.

After the murder, Gissendaner concealed her relationship with Owen from police and claimed not to have initiated contact with him for some time. ? Telephone records, Owen's testimony, and other witness testimony proved otherwise. ? After her arrest, Gissendaner called her best friend and confessed to her active and willing role in the murder, although she then called a second time and claimed that she was coerced into participating. ? Gissendaner wrote a letter while in jail in an effort to hire someone to give perjured testimony and to rob and beat witnesses ...

[struggle4progress]

13. Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
CHAPTER TWO: YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
Article 5: THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
I. Respect for Human Life
... Capital Punishment ...
2267 The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor.
"If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
"Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent.'[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.]
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7Z.HTM

[struggle4progress]

14. Faith Leaders Unite to Call for the Life of Kelly Gissendaner to be Spared

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-vIww2QD7KW61KnsP5XCJB5xOxGAeDT0WzM0W6MPYww/viewform