Kelly Gissendaner
Kelly Gissendaner (pictured above in her mugshot) was to become the first female inmate executed in Georgia since 1945. Georgia Department of Corrections

Demonstrators gathered outside a Jackson, Georgia, prison Tuesday after it was revealed that female death-row inmate Kelly Gissendaner was denied clemency. The convict made last-minute emergency appeals in both state and federal court, but she was denied by the Georgia parole board and U.S. Supreme Court shortly after 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday.

The execution of Gissendaner was not to be recorded on video, but live stream footage of the demonstrators and live broadcast can be seen here, courtesy of local Atlanta news station WSB-TV. Shortly before 10 p.m. a group of people behind caution tape peacefully waited. While some sat, others walked in circles.

It’s the third execution date that has been set for Gissendaner. Her first one was scheduled for February, but was canceled because of inclement weather. The second was rescheduled for March, but was canceled after the drugs used for the lethal injection appeared “cloudy.”

Gissendaner, 47, was to be executed for orchestrating the 1997 murder of her late husband, Douglas, who fathered her three children. With one of their parents already gone, Gissendaner’s children did not want to lose their mother. “I feel like I haven't had enough time to get to know my mom,” daughter Kayla Gissendaner said in a video released last week, according to WSB-TV. “My brothers and I lost one parent. ... I don't know that I can lose another one. I don't know that I can handle that.”

Even Pope Francis asked for Gissendaner’s execution to be halted. The pontiff sent a letter during his historic trip to the United States last week that was scribed on the pope's behalf by his diplomatic representative in the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. The pontiff beseeched the board "to commute the sentence to one that would better express both justice and mercy," The pope added he did not mean to minimize the gravity of Gissendaner’s crime with the bid for clemency.

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