Last Thursday, the pharmaceutical executive Gigi Jordan saw the Supreme Court let stand her 2014 conviction for fatally drugging her autistic, eight-year-old son Jude Mirra.
Jordan was found dead in her apartment the following day, according to the New York Post. She was 62.
The police are still investigating, but insiders told the NY Post that a note was found at the scene and the cause of death is suspected to be suicide.
Jordan admitted to forcing a lethal dose of medications down her young son’s throat with a syringe in 2010. She then ingested multiple medications herself, while still inside New York City’s ritzy Peninsula Hotel. After administering the drugs, Jordan emailed a relative who alerted authorities.
Prior to that, Jordan had become known for her immense wealth, estimated to have exceeded $55 million at the time.
The executive claimed at her trial that she had decided to kill herself and Jude because she believed that one of her ex-husbands was planning to have her killed, and that without her the boy would fall under the care of her other ex-husband and would be sexually abused. Both men denied her allegations against them.
Jordan was originally convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 years in prison, but she began a lengthy, complicated battle to appeal her conviction.
In 2020, a New York magistrate judge ordered a new trial for Jordan. The magistrate judge took issue with the trial judge’s decision to close the courtroom for 15 minutes at the prosecutor’s request… over strenuous objections from Jordan’s team.
The magistrate judge determined that closing the courtroom had violated Jordan’s Sixth Amendment right to a public trial, and Jordan was released from prison to home confinement.
However, the prosecution appealed the magistrate judge’s decision.
In November 2022, a federal appeals court said that even if the trial judge erred in closing the courtroom, no precedent clearly establishes that a conviction following an erroneous closure must be vacated.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement that his office was pleased with the ruling, which “affirms that Gigi Jordan received a fair trial.”
Jordan was facing an almost inevitable return to prison. She asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay, which would delay her return to prison.
On Dec. 29, Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor denied Jordan her stay. Jordan was reportedly found dead. After speaking to officials, WNBC reported that Jordan had died in the bathtub of her Brooklyn apartment.
Jordan’s lawyer, Norman Siegel, confirmed the death to the New York Daily News.
WNBC reported that a medical examiner would eventually determine the cause of death with more certainty.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.