Mississippi justices reject latest appeal from man on death row since 1976

Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied the latest appeal from a man who has been on the state’s death row longer than any other inmate. Richard Gerald Jordan is now 78. He was sentenced to death in 1976 for the kidnapping and killing of Edwina Marter that year in Harrison County. The Associated Press sent messages to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office asking if Tuesday’s ruling could lead to an execution date. Jordan’s attorney, Krissy Nobile, says justices erred in not applying a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on death penalty cases. Court records show Jordan took Marter to a forest and shot her, then later contacted her husband, said she was safe and demanded $25,000.