Mom who killed son ordered freed
A millionaire pharmaceutical executive who killed her 8-year-old autistic son should be released from prison due to a judge’s unusual decision to close the courtroom during her 2014 trial, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
A Manhattan federal judge overturned Gigi Jordan’s first-degree manslaughter conviction in September, ruling that her Sixth Amendment right to a public trial had been violated. Jordan was serving 18 years in prison for administering a fatal injection of prescription drugs to her nonverbal son in the Peninsula Hotel.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. appealed the decision. On Wednesday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals denied Vance’s effort to keep Jordan locked up at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility while it fought the decision.
“Jordan has already served some eleven years of her sentence, more than 70 percent of her likely provisional sentence; and the State does not argue that Jordan will pose a danger to the public if released,” the court wrote in a one-page order.
State prison records showed Thursday that Jordan, 60, was still in custody at the women’s prison in Westchester County.
Her impending freedom is the result of a closed-door hearing on Oct. 1, 2014 in the midst of a nine-week trial. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon briefly kicked the public out of his courtroom while discussing information Jordan (photo) posted on the internet about her case.
“The trial court’s closure of the courtroom was deliberate, over the multiple, strenuous objections of Jordan’s counsel, and was a closure that the trial court in fact acknowledged after the fact may well have been erroneous,” wrote Manhattan Federal Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave, overturning Jordan’s conviction.
Jordan will be subject to conditions set by a federal court upon release, according to filings.
“Our Office strenuously disagrees with the grant of habeus in this case, which misapprehends the applicable law, and if it becomes necessary we will re-try Ms. Jordan for the premeditated killing of Jude Mirra, her 8-year-old son,” Vance spokesman Danny Frost said.
An inquiry with the lawyer who won Jordan’s release was not returned.