Board denies clemency for Georgia woman on death row

ATLANTA (AP) — A parole board today once again denied clemency for the only woman on Georgia's death row, putting her one step closer to being the first woman executed by the state in seven decades.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner is scheduled to die by injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson. Gissendaner, 47, was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her husband. She conspired with her lover, who stabbed Douglas Gissendaner to death.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles did not give a reason for its denial after it met today, saying only that it had carefully considered her request for reconsideration.

Gissendaner was previously scheduled for execution Feb. 25, but that was delayed because of a threat of winter weather. Her execution was reset for March 2, but corrections officials postponed that execution "out of an abundance of caution" because the execution drug appeared "cloudy."