30 Sep 2015

American state executes first woman in 70 years

8:15 pm on 30 September 2015

A woman has been executed in the American state of Georgia for the first time in 70 years.

Kelly Gissendaner was put to death by lethal injection after a last-minute appeal was rejected.

Two of her children and Pope Francis's envoy to the United States had called for her sentence to be commuted.

She was convicted of murdering her husband in 1997.