ATLANTA – The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has invited representatives for condemned inmate Kelly Renee Gissendaner to meet with the Board on Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at 9:00 a.m., to advocate clemency for her. Gissendaner is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday, February 25, 2015, at 7 p.m., at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Gissendaner was convicted of murder in the February 1997 death of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner. The victim was killed in Gwinnett County by Gregory Owen, who received a life sentence and testified against Gissendaner. Kelly Gissendaner was convicted of malice murder in 1998 and sentenced to death. Gissendaner’s appeal to the United States Supreme Court was denied October 6, 2014.

In Georgia, the Parole Board has the sole constitutional authority to commute, or reduce, a death sentence to life with the possibility of parole or to life without the possibility of parole. Only after an inmate appears to have exhausted all appeals and other judicial avenues of relief will the Parole Board consider granting a commutation to a death-sentenced inmate. The Board maintains a comprehensive file on every death-sentenced inmate. The file includes the circumstances of the offense, the inmate’s criminal history, and a comprehensive history of the life of the condemned inmate. Board Members will complete a thorough review of this material prior to hearing from the inmate’s representatives on February 24, 2015.

It is anticipated that the meeting will be closed as authorized by O.C.G.A. § 50-14-3 (a)(2). No public comment will be taken at this meeting and no other business will be conducted. Media will be afforded the opportunity to take photographs prior to the meeting. Media should check in with credentials by 8:30 a.m., in the Board’s public reception office at 2 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive, East Tower, 4th Floor, room 458. Media should first be cleared for entry by building security on the Plaza Level. Members of the media will be given an opportunity to wait until the conclusion of the meeting to interview those seeking executive clemency for Gissendaner, if they choose to grant interviews.

For more information please contact Steve Hayes, Chief Public Information Officer, Office of Communications, at 404-657-9450 or [email protected] or visit our website at www.pap.ga.gov.