Now that the federal government has elected not to stop scheduled execution proceedings for Mississippi’s longest-tenured death row inmate, the one official with the power to call off the killing has also chosen not to do so.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced on Tuesday that, after reviewing a clemency petition filed on behalf of Richard Gerald Jordan and meeting with his counsel to “discuss the request and the facts of this case,” the execution of the 79-year-old will proceed as scheduled.
“He has been convicted by multiple juries of capital murder and sentenced to death. His most recent round of appeals and stay motions have been considered and rejected by the United States Supreme Court, the Mississippi Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States District Court,” Reeves wrote on X. “At this time, all necessary procedures are being followed with the anticipation that the execution will proceed as scheduled.”
I’ve been repeatedly asked this week by the press and others about the execution scheduled for tomorrow evening, and want to be clear to my fellow Mississippians where things stand.
I have reviewed the clemency petition and met with my counsel to discuss the request and the…
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) June 24, 2025
The update from the governor’s mansion comes after U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate rejected a request by Jordan’s legal counsel to block the inmate’s execution. Wingate, who mulled the state’s usage of a three-drug regimen (midazolam, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride) to take the life of those convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, ultimately allowed the state to move forward with the execution on one condition.
If the 500 milligram dose of midazolam, a drug used to induce drowsiness and relieve anxiety before medical procedures, inserted in Jordan’s system is ineffective in rendering the inmate unconscious, officials are ordered to pause further actions. Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain is to reach out to the federal court to determine how to proceed in that event.
“Therefore, convinced that this approach is not discouraged judicial micromanaging, but instead an effort to provide for a possible future undesirable consequence, this Court orders the State to stop Jordan’s execution if the first consciousness check reveals that Jordan is still conscious/sensate after the first 500 mg dose of midazolam,” Wingate wrote. “The parties, in that eventuality, are directed to contact this Court for further instructions.”
Jordan is scheduled to be put to death at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman on Wednesday at 6 p.m. He will be the first inmate to be executed in Mississippi since Thomas Loden Jr.’s life was taken by the state in December 2022.
Backstory
Jordan, who was unemployed and strapped for cash, orchestrated a plan to break into a wealthy person’s home back in 1976. The now-inmate called Gulf National Bank and asked to speak with someone in charge of divvying out personal loans. Once informed that Chuck Marter was over commercial loans, Jordan used a telephone directory to find the banker’s Harrison County home address.
He later showed up at the Marter residence posing as an electric company worker needing to check on the circuit breakers in the home.
That’s when Jordan is reported to have kidnapped Edwina Marter and taken her to the DeSoto National Forest in Harrison County, where he fatally shot her. Following the gunfire, the death row inmate called Marter’s husband and told him his wife was alive, seeking $50,000 in ransom before settling on $25,000 as a sufficient figure.
The husband ultimately left the funds at a location off Interstate 10 and Canal Road in Gulfport. Federal agents and local police waited near where the cash had been dropped off. Officers made a move on Jordan when he attempted to retrieve the money. The subject led law enforcement on a chase and successfully evaded police, later ditching his vehicle.
Hours after the chase, a Gulfport police officer spotted Jordan in a taxi cab and took him into custody. Jordan fessed up to killing the victim and pointed officers to the body and the murder weapon. He later claimed to a psychiatrist that a bystander had killed Edwina Marter, but that was neither deemed credible nor used by the defense in court.
After challenging his execution several times, Jordan is finally set to be put to death by the state, barring a last-minute wrench thrown into current plans.
