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

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously denied the latest appeal from a man who has been on the state’s death row longer than any other inmate.

Richard Gerald Jordan, now 78, was sentenced to death in 1976 for the kidnapping and killing of Edwina Marter earlier that year in Harrison County.

The Associated Press sent an email to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday asking if the the new ruling could allow the state to set an execution date.

Krissy Nobile, Jordan’s attorney and director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, said she thinks state justices erred in not applying a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that dealt with independent mental health experts in death penalty cases.

“We are exploring all federal and state options for Mr. Jordan and will be moving for rehearing in the Mississippi Supreme Court,” Nobile said.

Mississippi Supreme Court records show that in January 1976, Jordan traveled from Louisiana to Gulfport, Mississippi, where he called Gulf National Bank and asked to speak to a loan officer. After he was told Charles Marter could speak with him, Jordan ended the call, looked up Marter’s home address in a telephone book, went to the house and got in by pretending to work for the electric company.

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