The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of West Virginia from 1861 to 1959.
Capital punishment was abolished in West Virginia in 1965. [1] From 1861 to 1959, 112 people have been executed in West Virginia, [2] 102 by hanging, 9 by electrocution and 1 by hanging in chains. [2]
Name | Race | Sex | Date of execution | Method | Crime(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Winthrow | Black | ? | January 1861 | Hanging | Unspecified Felony |
Daniel Grogan | ? | M | February 9, 1866 | Hanging | Murder |
Thomas Boice | ? | M | February 9, 1866 | Hanging | Murder |
Mortimer Gibboney | ? | M | June 15, 1866 | Hanging | Murder |
Joseph Eisele | White | M | March 6, 1868 | Hanging | Murder |
Labon Walker | White | M | November 28, 1879 | Hanging | Murder |
Henry Jenkins | Black | M | November 11, 1881 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
Felix Kampf | White | M | March 7, 1890 | Hanging | Murder |
William Martin | ? | M | June 3, 1890 | Hanging | Murder |
Sim Johnson | Black | M | June 19, 1891 | Hanging | Rape |
William Maier | White | M | November 17, 1892 | Hanging | Murder |
Allen Harrison | White | M | November 22, 1892 | Hanging | Murder |
John Hardy | ? | M | January 19, 1894 | Hanging | Murder |
Washington Adkins | Black | M | July 20, 1894 | Hanging | Murder |
Anderw Scott | Black | M | January 4, 1895 | Hanging | Murder |
Jim Nichols | Black | M | December 13, 1895 | Hanging | Murder |
Clark Lewis | Black | M | June 25, 1897 | Hanging | Murder |
Jerry Brown | Black | M | July 25, 1897 | Hanging | Rape |
Albert Viars | White | M | November 12, 1897 | Hanging | Murder |
John Morgan | White | M | December 16, 1897 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
Shep Caldwell | Black | M | January 10, 1899 | Hanging | Murder |
Frank Broadsnax | Black | M | November 9, 1899 | Hanging | Murder |
Frank Walker | Black | M | December 15, 1899 | Hanging | Murder |
George Carter | Black | M | March 21, 1902 | Hanging | Murder |
Lewis Young | Black | M | May 1, 1902 | Hanging | Murder |
John Mooney | White | M | May 9, 1902 | Hanging | Murder |
Frank Friday | White | M | May 9, 1902 | Hanging | Murder |
Perry Christian | White | M | June 13, 1902 | Hanging | Murder |
State Henry | Black | M | June 24, 1902 | Hanging | Murder |
Wilfred Davis | White | M | June 5, 1903 | Hanging | Murder |
George Williams | Black | M | September 9, 1904 | Hanging | Rape |
Edward Walton | Black | M | July 17, 1908 | Hanging | Murder |
Arthur Brown | Black | M | August 27, 1909 | Hanging | Murder |
Thomas Wayne | Black | M | December 23, 1910 | Hanging | Rape and Murder |
Frank Stevenson | Black | M | February 17, 1911 | Hanging | Murder |
Jesse Cook | White | M | March 10, 1911 | Hanging | Murder |
William Furbish | Black | M | March 17, 1911 | Hanging | Rape |
John Marshall | Black | M | April 4, 1913 | Hanging in chains | Murder |
James Williams | Black | M | April 4, 1913 | Hanging | Murder |
Henry Sterling | Black | M | June 6, 1913 | Hanging | Murder |
John Bix | White | M | June 6, 1913 | Hanging | Murder |
Henry Green | Black | M | March 6, 1914 | Hanging | Murder |
Silas Jones | Black | M | July 10, 1914 | Hanging | Murder |
Will Thomas | Black | M | July 2, 1915 | Hanging | Murder |
Will Stuart | Black | M | July 2, 1915 | Hanging | Murder |
Nat Jarrell | White | M | July 9, 1915 | Hanging | Murder |
Charles Forest | Black | M | September 10, 1915 | Hanging | Murder |
Claude Sutton | White | M | August 4, 1916 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
James Lay | Black | M | September 1, 1916 | Hanging | Murder |
Hugh Ferguson | Black | M | August 6, 1919 | Hanging | Murder |
Hugh Bragg | White | M | April 30, 1920 | Hanging | Murder |
Jacob Lutz | White | M | July 22, 1921 | Hanging | Murder |
Hobart Green | White | M | August 5, 1921 | Hanging | Murder |
Henry Harbor | Black | M | January 7, 1922 | Hanging | Murder |
Leroy Williams | Black | M | March 3, 1922 | Hanging | Rape |
Monroe Payton | Black | M | May 4, 1922 | Hanging | Rape |
George Banhage | White | M | November 2, 1923 | Hanging | Murder |
Nick Salamante | White | M | January 4, 1924 | Hanging | Murder |
Philip Connizzaro | White | M | January 4, 1924 | Hanging | Murder |
Richard Ferri | White | M | January 4, 1924 | Hanging | Murder |
Samuel Muratore | White | M | February 15, 1924 | Hanging | Murder |
Tiny McCoy | White | M | September 12, 1924 | Hanging | Murder |
Robert Ford | Black | M | January 29, 1926 | Hanging | Murder |
Harry Sawyer | Black | M | April 19, 1926 | Hanging | Rape |
Philip Euman | Black | M | August 20, 1926 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
Henry Jackson | Black | M | September 10, 1926 | Hanging | Murder |
Pierce Jefferies | Black | M | February 18, 1927 | Hanging | Rape |
Wesley Swain | White | M | February 3, 1928 | Hanging | Rape |
Andrew Brady | Black | M | March 30, 1928 | Hanging | Rape |
Lawrence Pike | White | M | August 10, 1928 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
Henry Grogan | Black | M | February 8, 1929 | Hanging | Rape |
Theodore Carr | White | M | June 14, 1929 | Hanging | Murder |
Walter Wilmot | White | M | September 13, 1929 | Hanging | Murder |
Willard Morrison | White | M | September 13, 1929 | Hanging | Murder |
Walter Crabtree | White | M | May 9, 1930 | Hanging | Murder |
Roosevelt Darnell | White | M | November 14, 1930 | Hanging | Murder |
William C. Adams | White | M | February 20, 1931 | Hanging | Murder |
Emory Stephens | White | M | February 20, 1931 | Hanging | Murder |
Frank Myer | White | M | June 19, 1931 | Hanging | Murder |
Harry Powers | White | M | March 18, 1932 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
James Blount | Black | M | May 12, 1932 | Hanging | Murder |
Omer Brill | White | M | August 10, 1933 | Hanging | Murder |
Leo Fraser | White | M | November 24, 1933 | Hanging | Murder |
Joe Corey | White | M | December 8, 1933 | Hanging | Murder |
Greely Blankenship | White | M | January 7, 1935 | Hanging | Murder |
Robert Branch | Black | M | July 19, 1935 | Hanging | Murder |
Frank Pramera | White | M | April 13, 1937 | Hanging | Murder |
Willy Becker | White | M | June 25, 1937 | Hanging | Murder |
Mervin Brown | Black | M | September 10, 1937 | Hanging | Murder |
William Read | White | M | November 5, 1937 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
Raymond Styres | White | M | March 13, 1938 | Hanging | Murder |
John Travis | White | M | March 21, 1938 | Hanging | Kidnapping and Murder |
Arnett Booth | White | M | March 21, 1938 | Hanging | Kidnapping and Murder |
Orville Adkins | White | M | March 21, 1938 | Hanging | Kidnapping and Murder |
Hartman Byzantine | White | M | June 28, 1940 | Hanging | Murder |
Paul Tross | Black | M | December 6, 1940 | Hanging | Rape |
James Chambers | Black | M | March 30, 1945 | Hanging | Rape and Murder |
William Turner | White | M | December 28, 1945 | Hanging | Murder |
Richard Collins | White | M | January 11, 1946 | Hanging | Murder |
William Gordon | White | M | January 3, 1947 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
Paul Burton | White | M | January 2, 1948 | Hanging | Murder |
Mark McCauley | White | M | January 30, 1948 | Hanging | Murder |
Matthew Perison | Black | M | September 23, 1948 | Hanging | Murder |
Lemuel Steed | Black | M | January 15, 1949 | Hanging | Robbery and Murder |
Bud Peterson | Black | M | February 25, 1949 | Hanging | Murder |
Harry Burdette | White | M | March 26, 1951 | Electrocution | Murder |
Fred Painter | White | M | March 26, 1951 | Electrocution | Murder |
James Hewlett, Jr. | White | M | April 10, 1951 | Electrocution | Robbery and Murder |
Gabel Gardener | White | M | April 17, 1953 | Electrocution | Robbery and Murder |
Tom Ingham | Black | M | March 27, 1954 | Electrocution | Murder |
Robert Hopkins | White | M | September 7, 1956 | Electrocution | Robbery and Murder |
Eugene Linger | White | M | June 5, 1958 | Electrocution | Murder |
Larry Fudge | White | M | July 1, 1958 | Electrocution | Rape and Murder |
Elmer Bruner | White | M | April 3, 1959 | Electrocution | Burglary and Murder |
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a state-sanctioned practice of deliberately executing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, and following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant execution. The sentence ordering that an offender is to be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is condemned and is commonly referred to as being "on death row".
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain "hanging". Hanging has been a common method of capital punishment since medieval times, and is the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. The first known account of execution by hanging was in Homer's Odyssey. In this specialised meaning of the common word hang, the past and past participle is hanged instead of hung.
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969. Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998; the last execution for treason took place in 1946. In 2004 the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom; it prohibits the restoration of the death penalty as long as the UK is a party to the convention.
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. Capital punishment is, in practice, only applied for aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, only 20 states have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other seven, as well as the federal government, being subject to different types of moratoriums. The existence of capital punishment in the United States can be traced to early colonial Virginia. Along with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, the United States is one of five advanced democracies and the only Western nation that applies the death penalty regularly. It is one of 54 countries worldwide applying it, and was the first to develop lethal injection as a method of execution, which has since been adopted by five other countries. The Philippines has since abolished executions, and Guatemala has done so for civil offenses, leaving the United States as one of four countries to still use this method. It is common practice for the condemned to be administered sedatives prior to execution, regardless of the method used.
The list of people executed by the U.S. state of Texas, with the exception of 1819–1849, is divided into periods of 10 years.
Capital punishment was a legal penalty in the U.S. state of New Hampshire for persons convicted of capital murder prior to 30 May 2019.
Capital punishment in New Zealand – the process of sentencing convicted offenders to death for the most serious crimes and carrying out that sentence, as ordered by a legal system – first appeared in a codified form when New Zealand became a British colony in 1840. It was first carried out with a public hanging in Victoria St, Auckland in 1842, while the last execution occurred in 1957 at Mount Eden Prison, also in Auckland. In total, 85 people have been executed in New Zealand.
Capital punishment was abolished in Virginia on March 24, 2021, when Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill into law. The law took effect on July 1, 2021. Virginia is the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty, and the first southern state in United States history to do so.
Capital punishment is forbidden by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Czech Republic and is simultaneously prohibited by international legal obligations arising from the Czech Republic's membership in both the Council of Europe and the European Union.
Capital punishment is abolished in the U.S. State of West Virginia since 1965.
Capital punishment was used from the creation of the modern Serbian state in 1804. On 26 February 2002, the Serbian Parliament adopted amendments striking the death penalty from the Criminal Code. The last execution, by shooting, took place on 14 February 1992, and the last death sentences were pronounced in 2001. Serbia is bound by the following international conventions prohibiting capital punishment : The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Protocols No. 6 and No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights. According to Article 24 of the Serbian constitution (2006): „Human life is inviolable. There shall be no death penalty in the Republic of Serbia“.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Afghanistan. The methods used hanging and shooting. Stoning, amputation, and flogging were used as a method for punishment, especially during the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001).
Capital punishment in Montenegro was first prescribed by law in 1798. It was abolished on 19 June 2002. The last execution, by shooting, took place on 29 January 1981, and the two last death sentences were pronounced on 11 October 2001. Montenegro is bound by the following international conventions prohibiting capital punishment : Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as Protocols No. 6 and No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights. According to Art. 26 of the Montenegrin Constitution (2007): „In Montenegro, capital punishment is forbidden”.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Jordan. The country had a moratorium on capital punishment between 2006 and 2014. In late 2014 the moratorium was lifted and 11 persons were executed. Two more executions followed in 2015, 15 executions took place in 2017 and one in 2021.
Capital punishment in Hawaii ended in 1957 when it was still an organized incorporated territory of the United States. About 75 people were executed by the government, all for the crime of murder, and all by hanging. Additionally during and after World War II, at least seven U.S. servicemen were executed by the United States Armed Forces by order of a general court martial.