RICHARD GERALD JORDAN
He was the longest serving inmate on Mississippi’s death row when the state, on June 25, 2025, decided to carry out his execution.
The death protocol took 16 minutes from the time the fatal three-judge cocktail was administered until his death was officially announced. It was by witness accounts as peaceful a death as one could expect under the circumstances.
Mouth ajar, Jordan took several deep breaths before he became unconscious. Moments before the execution, he even thanked his executioners for the “humane way” they were about to kill him.
Not quite the way I see the process.
His wife and attorney wiped tears from their eyes as they watched the dying process unfold before them.
A “fuck you” to the State of Mississippi would have, I believe, been better.
The victim’s family, who did not attend the execution, celebrated the event, lamenting the fact that it took too long to occur. Their vengeful sentiments were expressed in post-execution media events.
In his final statement, Jordan said: “I want to apologize to the victim’s family.”
Silence would have been better. People demanding death revenge should not receive words of contrition, apology, or remorse. Silence from the condemned is all they are entitled to.
Whoever hates me at the time of my death can piss on some of my ashes if they like. That’s all they will ever get from me.
The legal chronology of Jordan’s case is quite bizarre.
His crime (murder) occurred in January 1976. He was convicted and sentenced to death that same year.
His conviction and death sentence were reversed in 1977 and, again, in the same year he was reconvicted and resentenced to death.
In 1983 an appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing. Again, that same year following that hearing he was resentenced to death.
In 1986, an appeals court once again vacated his death sentence, and after five years of legal wrangling, prosecutors offered him a plea deal to drop his appeals in exchange for a life sentence without the benefit of parole. He accepted the deal in 1991.
However, Jordan appealed, claiming state law at the time of his crime did not permit life without parole. He requested life with parole. An appeals court agreed the life without parole sentence was unlawful, vacated the plea deal, and ordered another sentencing hearing at which he sentenced to death a fourth time.
Over the next two decades Jordan’s case meandered through numerous state and federal appeal processes before his execution was carried out more than 49 years after the crime that led to his death sentence.
Now, if the State of Mississippi is willing to go to these lengths to carry out a death sentence, it is not far-fetched to believe that the Confederate states, through an Executive Order from President Donald J. Trump—constitutionally blessed by a 6-3 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas—will soon be exporting their death row inmates to Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Nigeria, or a host of other death penalty worshipping countries where they will be summarily executed with little fanfare or concern.
Below are two links about the death penalty you may find interesting.
https://justicedelayed.libsyn.com/episode-2-execution-witness-with-stan-allridge
https://justicedelayed.libsyn.com/episode-1-death-penalty-with-sister-helen-prejean