Georgia Executes Only Woman on Death Row in the State

Protesters showed up in force and pleas from her three children couldn't stop Wednesday's execution of the only woman on Georgia's death row.

CNN Reports Kelly Gissendaner was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Tuesday, but her lawyers filed appeals to state and federal courts in her final hours to try to spare her life.

Her children had to make a heart-wrenching choice Tuesday: go see their mother one last time, or make a final appeal in front of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.

"We chose to try and save her life, and they still denied us," daughter Kayla Gissendaner said outside the state's execution facility in Jackson.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that before the drugs that were to kill her were administered, Gissendaner asked her lawyer to be sure her children know she left this world singing 'Amazing Grace'.

She cried and sang with joy until the powerful sedative took over and she closed her eyes.

Then she drifted off and minutes later died, punishment for her part in the murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner, in 1997.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner was given a lethal injection shortly after midnight for the murder of her husband in 1996.

It was Gissendaner's lover who actually carried out the killing. He's serving a life prison sentence.

Gissendaner's children unsuccessfully asked the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute their mother's death sentence.