US man who spent nearly 50 years on death row executed

Richard Jordan, Mississippi’s longest-serving and oldest death row inmate, was put to death by lethal injection

A Mississippi man who had been on death row for nearly 50 years was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, one of two executions in the United States this week.

Richard Jordan, 79, was convicted in 1976 of the murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a bank executive in the town of Gulfport.

Jordan, a shipyard worker, kidnapped Marter from her home and demanded a US$25,000 ransom.

He was apprehended when he went to pick up the money.