Did Richard Jordan commit murder because of post-traumatic stress disorder from three combat tours in the Vietnam War? Or is he simply a cold-blooded killer?
That question is at the heart of Jordan's arguments against his imminent execution in Mississippi on Wednesday, June 25 − six months shy of 50 years since he kidnapped and killed 36-year-old Edwina Marter, a stay-at-home mother of two sons. Jordan shot Marter in the back of the head before her banker husband paid a $25,000 ransom for her return on Jan. 12, 1976.
"Like other veterans, Vietnam forever changed Richard" and left him "a traumatized man," according to his petition for clemency filed on June 16, which says he served three combat tours for a combined 33 months, often in the perilous position as a helicopter gunner, earning him various medals and an honorable discharge.
Now as Mississippi's oldest inmate on death row at the age of 79, he has mentored younger prisoners, helped quell violent breakouts, and worked with banks to help prevent their employees from becoming targets like Marter, his petition says.
But at Jordan's trial in 1976, prosecutors told jurors to consider how fervently Jordan demanded a ransom for Marter's safe return even after he had shot her dead.
