The man who has sat on death row longer than any other Mississippi inmate convicted of capital murder is scheduled to be executed this week.
After mulling the state’s usage of a three-drug regimen (midazolam, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride) in executing death row inmates, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate has rejected 79-year-old Richard Gerald Jordan’s request to block his June 25 execution.
The update comes after attorneys representing Jordan and the state argued before the federal judge regarding the usage of the drug trio in taking lives. Jordan’s legal counsel contended that the full effects of midzalom, a drug used to induce drowsiness and relieve anxiety before medical procedures, are not always experienced by users.
This spurred a further contention that Jordan would endure severe pain from the other two drugs if midzalom was ineffective, leading the inmate to be subjected to “cruel and unusual punishment,” a direct violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. The state, however, argued that Jordan’s attorneys were using inaccurate claims. The state also highlighted its use of a “consciousness check” on a recipient after the midzalom dosage is administered.
While Wingate is allowing the execution proceedings to take place, he did issue a stipulation in his order. In the event that the 500 mg dose of midazolam is ineffective in causing Jordan to lose consciousness, officials are ordered to pause further actions. Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain is to reach out to the federal court to determine how to proceed.
“Therefore, convinced that this approach is not discouraged judicial micromanaging, but instead an effort to provide for a possible future undesirable consequence, this Court orders the State to stop Jordan’s execution if the first consciousness check reveals that Jordan is still conscious/sensate after the first 500 mg dose of midazolam,” Wingate wrote.
“The parties, in that eventuality, are directed to contact this Court for further instructions.”
In an additional last-ditch effort to delay the execution, Jordan’s attorneys took to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the inmate’s case while also submitting an emergency stay of execution application. The nation’s high court on Monday elected to accept Wingate’s ruling, denying requests by Jordan’s legal team.
Barring a wrinkle in Wednesday’s proceedings, Jordan is set to be the first inmate to be executed in Mississippi since Thomas Loden Jr.’s life was taken by the state in December 2022.
Backstory
Jordan, who was unemployed and strapped for cash, orchestrated a plan to break into a wealthy person’s home back in 1976. The now-inmate called Gulf National Bank and asked to speak with someone in charge of divvying out personal loans. Once informed that Chuck Marter was over commercial loans, Jordan used a telephone directory to find the banker’s home address.
He later showed up at the Marter residence posing as an electric company worker needing to check on the circuit breakers in the home.
That’s when Jordan is reported to have kidnapped Edwina Marter and taken her to the DeSoto National Forest in Harrison County, where he fatally shot her. Following the gunfire, the death row inmate called Marter’s husband and told him his wife was alive, seeking $50,000 in ransom before settling on $25,000 as a sufficient figure.
The husband ultimately left the funds at a location off Interstate 10 and Canal Road in Gulfport. Federal agents and local police waited near where the cash had been dropped off. Officers made a move on Jordan when he attempted to retrieve the money. The subject led law enforcement on a chase and successfully evaded police, later ditching his vehicle.
Hours after the chase, a Gulfport police officer spotted Jordan in a taxi cab and took him into custody. Jordan fessed up to killing the victim and pointed officers to the body and the murder weapon. He later claimed to a psychiatrist that a bystander had killed Edwina Marter, but that was neither deemed credible nor used by the defense in court.
After challenging his execution several times, Jordan is finally set to be put to death by the state, barring a last-minute wrench thrown into current plans.
