Georgia woman nears execution for husband's murder

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — The only woman on Georgia's death row will become the first female to be executed in 70 years in the state this evening, unless the U.S. Supreme Court steps in with a last-minute reprieve.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 46, was scheduled to die by injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson for the February 1997 murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner. Tonight's 7 p.m. scheduled execution time passed without any decision yet by the nation's highest court.

Previously, courts had found Gissendaner had plotted the stabbing death of her husband by her boyfriend, Gregory Owen, who will be up for parole in eight years after accepting a life sentence and testifying against her.

Gissendaner would be only the 16th woman put to death nationwide since the Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976. About 1,400 men have been executed since then, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.