List of last executions in the United States by crime

This is a list of the last executions in the United States for the crimes stated.

List of last persons to be executed for a crime other than murder

Crime	Convict	Race	Age	Date	Location	Jurisdiction	Other notes
Robbery	James Cobern [1] [2] [3]	White	38	September 4, 1964	Alabama	State	Cobern also sexually mutilated and murdered his victim. He was charged with murder, rape, and robbery, but the murder and rape charges never went to trial. [4] Herbert Bradley was executed in Texas on May 16, 1962, for a robbery where the victim was left permanently crippled from the waist down after being shot six times and beaten with a hammer, but did not die.
Rape	Ronald Wolfe [5]	White	33	May 8, 1964	Missouri	State	Wolfe's victim was an 8-year-old girl. At the time of his arrest, he was also wanted for raping another 8-year-old girl in New York.
Aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury by an inmate serving a life sentence for murder	Rudolph Wright [6] [7]	Black	31	January 11, 1962	California	State	Wright's victim died. He received a life sentence for first degree murder and a mandatory death sentence for assault. Robert Harmon was executed in California for assault by a life convict on 9 August 1960 in a case where the victim did not die. Harmon wrote to the governor and warned that he would continue to assault or kill fellow inmates unless he was executed.
Kidnapping	Billy Monk [8] [9] [10] [11]	White	26	November 21, 1960	California	State	Monk raped and stabbed his victim. While Victor Feguer is listed in ESPY as being executed for kidnapping, he also murdered his victim.
Burglary with intent to ravish	Ross McAfee [12] [13] [14] [15]	Black	39	November 22, 1957	North Carolina	State	McAfee slashed the throat of the victim, a 17-year-old girl. He also admitted to the murder of an elderly woman in Georgia in 1956.
Espionage	Ethel and Julius Rosenberg	White	35 (Julius) and 37 (Ethel)	June 19, 1953	New York	Federal	The Rosenbergs rejected numerous chances to cooperate in exchange for clemency prior to their executions.
Desertion	Eddie Slovik [16]	White	24	January 31, 1945	Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France	Military	Slovik was the first person to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Prior to his court-martial, he was given multiple chances to rejoin his unit and destroy his written confession without facing any consequences, but refused. He also declined to present any mitigation when given the opportunity.
Sabotage	Herbert Hans Haupt, Heinrich Heinck, Edward Kerling, Hermann Neubauer, Richard Quirin, and Werner Thiel	White	22 (Haupt), 35 (Heinck and Thiel), 33 (Kerling), 32 (Neubauer), and 34 (Quirin)	August 8, 1942	Washington, D.C.	Federal	Executed for their roles in Operation Pastorius
Burglary	Frank Bass [17] [18] [19] [20]	Black	23	August 8, 1941	Alabama	State	Bass attempted to beat a woman to death with a hammer during the burglary.
Train robbery	Black Jack Ketchum	White	37	April 26, 1901	New Mexico Territory	Federal
Arson	George Hughes, George Smith, and Asbury Hughes [21]	White	21 (George Hughes), 30 (George Smith) and 22 (Asbury Hughes)	August 1, 1884	Alabama	State	George Smith was linked to two murders in other states.
Stealing, treason, and conduct unbecoming a slave	Amy Spain [22]	Black	17	March 10, 1865	Confederate South Carolina	Military	Executed under Confederate authority.
Conspiracy to commit murder	Five unnamed Yuki men [23]	Native	Unknown	July 21, 1863	California	State
Piracy	Nathaniel Gordon [Note 1]	White	30	February 21, 1862	New York	Federal	Gordon was executed for slave trading, which was defined as piracy when the perpetrator was an American citizen, and therefore subject to the same sentence.
Slave revolt	Caesar, Sam, and Sanford (slaves)	Black	Unknown	October 19, 1860	Alabama	State
Treason	William Bruce Mumford [Note 2]	White	42	June 7, 1862	Union-occupied New Orleans, Louisiana	Military
Aiding a runaway slave	Starling (or Sterling) Clayton and Martin Carter	White	Unknown	February 25, 1859	South Carolina	State
Theft	Jake (slave)	Black	Unknown	December 3, 1855	Alabama	State
Horse theft (grand larceny)	Theodore Velenquez [24]	Hispanic	Unknown	January 30, 1852	California	State
Forgery	Ray	White	Unknown	March 6, 1840	South Carolina	State
Counterfeiting	Thomas Davis [25]	White	60	October 11, 1822	Alabama	State	John Richardson was hanged for counterfeiting by the Confederate government in Virginia on August 22, 1862.
Bestiality	Joseph Ross [26] [Note 3] [27]	White	Unknown	1785	Pennsylvania	State
Witchcraft	Manuel [28]	Black	Unknown	June 15, 1779	Illinois	Territory
Concealing the birth/death of an infant	Hannah Piggen [29]	Unknown	Unknown	1785	Massachusetts	State
Incest	Thomas Rood [30]	White	46	October 18, 1672	Connecticut Colony	Colony	Only execution for incest in the United States. Thomas Rood's daughter, Sarah Rood, whom he was convicted of having sexual relations with and who had fathered his child, was also tried for incest and pleaded guilty. However, Sarah was spared execution and instead flogged after the court found that her father had been raping her.
Sodomy	Jan Creoli [31]	Black	Unknown	March 25, 1646	New Netherland	Colony
Adultery	Mary Latham and John Britton [32]	White	18 (Lantham)	March 21, 1643	Massachusetts Bay	Colony

See also

• Capital punishment in the United States

Notes and references

Notes

1. Slave trading was assimilated to piracy, as hostis humani generis .
2. John Conn and four other persons were executed for treason on 1862 in Texas, under Confederate authority.
3. On 1801, soldier Jose Antonio Rosas was shot for sodomy in Spanish California.

References

1. Supreme Court to hear case on death penalty restriction, Los Angeles Times, David G. Savage, January 05, 2008
2. "Coburn". Alabama Journal. June 8, 1964. p. 11. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
3. "Cobern v. State". Justia Law. April 5, 1962. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
4. "James W. Cobern Executed (September 4, 1964)". Great Bend Tribune. September 4, 1964. p. 6. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
5. "RAPE WHERE VICTIM LIVED". May 12, 2009. Archived from the original on May 12, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
6. "People v. Wright, 55 Cal.2d 560".
7. United States Demographics, Part B
8. "People v. Monk, 56 Cal.2d 288".
9. "Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, April 27, 1960". April 27, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
10. "More on Capital Punishment". MarshallsKnowledge©. October 24, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
11. "San Quentin Gas Chamber Claims Life of Billy Monk". Valley News. November 23, 1961. p. 19.
12. "Man's Life Taken for Rape Attempt". Charlotte News. November 22, 1957.
13. 100 S.E.2d 249 (N.C. 1957); 247 N.C. 98; STATE v. Ross McAFEE (alias J. C. Adams). No. 361, Supreme Court of North Carolina. November 6, 1957.
14. Berger, Peter L. (June 7, 2011). Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist: How to Explain the World Without Becoming a Bore. Prometheus Books. p. 40. ISBN   978-1-61614-390-9.
15. Christianson, Scott (2010). The Last Gasp: The Rise and Fall of the American Gas Chamber. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-25562-3.
16. "The Sad Story of Private Eddie Slovik". 28-110-k.org. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
17. "Negro Is First To Die For Night Burglary". The Tuscaloosa News . August 8, 1941. p. 2. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
18. "Alabama executes Negro for burglary". Monroe News Star Newspaper. August 8, 1941. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
19. "First Burglar Goes To Chair Under New Death Penalty Law". The Montgomery Advertiser. August 8, 1941. p. 1. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
20. "Alabama Negro To Die For Night Burglary". The Palm Beach Post. August 8, 1941. p. 8. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
21. Chambless, Ann B. (November 11, 2011). "A story back in time". The Daily Sentinel. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
22. O'Shea, Kathleen A. (1994). "Till death do us part" (PDF). Nemesis. 10 (2): 54.
23. Berry, Irene; O'Hare, Sheila and Silva, Jesse (2006). Legal Executions in California: A Comprehensive Registry, 1851–2005. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, p. 61.
24. Berry, Irene; O'Hare, Sheila and Silva, Jesse (2006). Legal Executions in California: A Comprehensive Registry, 1851–2005. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, p. 10.
25. Niles' National Register. Vol. 23. January 4, 1823. p. 288.
26. Manion, Jen (October 7, 2015). Liberty's Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   978-0-8122-9242-8.
27. Gutierrez, Ramon A.; Almaguer, Tomas (August 23, 2016). The New Latino Studies Reader: A Twenty-First-Century Perspective. Univ of California Press. p. 422. ISBN   978-0-520-28484-5.
28. Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File
29. "Bathsheba Spooner, Hannah Piggen, and Rachel Wall". Tattered Fabric: Fall River's Lizzie Borden. August 11, 2008. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015.
30. Beryl (June 15, 2018). "A Rood Tale". Norwich Bulletin. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
31. "Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin, 1607-1783, by Jonathan Ned Katz". outhistory.org. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
32. "Mary Latham Marries an Older Man – And Regrets It - New England Historical Society". www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com. March 16, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2020.