Capital punishment in the District of Columbia has been abolished since 1981. However, a number of executions were carried out under the District's jurisdiction before then.
Before 1973, the District of Columbia was exclusively governed by Congress, which included establishing all local laws. Until 1962, the District of Columbia was the last jurisdiction in the United States with mandatory death sentences for first-degree murder (the last U.S. state with mandatory death sentences for first degree murder was Vermont). Mandatory death sentences were abolished by the HR5143 (PL87-423), signed into law by President John F. Kennedy on March 22, 1962. [1] Rape was also a capital offense. [2]
The D.C. capital punishment law was nullified by the Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in 1972 and formally repealed by the D.C. Council in 1981.
The first recorded execution in District of Columbia, was the hanging of James McGirk in 1802. Hanging was the method of execution used in the District until 1928, when it was replaced by the electric chair. The last execution under the authority of the District took place in 1957, when Robert Carter was executed. All executions were conducted at the D.C. Jail.
The president of the United States has sole pardoning power in the District.
Executed Person | Ethnicity | Age | Sex | Date of Execution | Crime | Presidential Administration |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Benjamin Snell | White | 42 | Male | June 29, 1900 | Executed for the August 6, 1899, razor murder of a 13 year old girl. [3] | William McKinley |
Nelson Vale | Black | 59 | Male | July 6, 1900 | Executed for the January, 1900 shooting murder of a man in Tenleytown. [4] | |
Frank Funk | White | 25 | Male | November 9, 1900 | Executed for June, 1898 murder of elderly man in his home during robbery. [5] | |
Elijah Chapman | Black | 33 | Male | May 23, 1902 | Executed for January 1, 1902 fatal stabbing of his alleged common-law wife during an argument. [6] | Theodore Roosevelt |
John St. Clair | Black | 26 | Male | January 30, 1903 | Executed for the April, 1902 shooting murder of a woman during an argument. [7] | |
Benjamin Hill | White | 52 | Male | July 24, 1903 | Executed for the November, 1902 shooting murder of his wife. [8] | |
John Burley | Black | 43 | Male | August 26, 1904 | Executed for the rape of a four-year-old girl in April, 1903. [9] | |
Augustus Shaffer | White | 39 | Male | February 10, 1905 | Executed for cutting the throat of his divorced wife in August, 1903. [10] | |
William Hamilton | Black | 27 | Male | February 2, 1906 | Executed for June, 1904 murder of a woman. [11] | |
Charles Edward Grant | Black | 21 | Male | November 16, 1906 | Executed for the murder his common-law-wife, whom he stabbed with a knife during a quarrel. [12] | |
William Burge | Black | 23 | Male | April 23, 1907 | Executed for the January, 1905 murder of his wife. [13] | |
Joseph Paolucci | White | 31 | Male | March 23, 1908 | Executed for the September, 1906 shooting of woman who had rejected him for a relationship. [14] | |
Albert Brown | Black | 23 | Male | June 29, 1908 | Executed for the murder of his brother Harvey in November, 1907. [15] | |
Richard Gregory | Black | 37 | Male | February 15, 1909 | Executed for August, 1907 murder of man with a club. [16] | |
Samuel Rauen | White | 25 | Male | February 14, 1913 | Executed for fatally shooting his wife and his brother in front of his wife's home in March, 1912. [17] | William Howard Taft |
Nathaniel Green | Black | 23 | Male | June 9, 1913 | Executed for the Christmas Day, 1912 rape of a woman. [18] | Woodrow Wilson |
James Allen | Black | 36 | Male | September 12, 1917 | Executed for the November, 1915 murder of his wife in their home in Georgetown. [19] | |
James Jackson | Black | 27 | Male | March 2, 1920 | Executed for murder of young war worker in January, 1919. [20] | |
Frank Bowman | Black | 39 | Male | October 22, 1920 | Executed for 1916 murder of a paralyzed man. [21] | |
William Campbell | Black | 22 | Male | March 11, 1921 | Executed for murder of woman in her home during burglary in March, 1920. [22] | Warren Harding |
John McHenry | White | 19 | Male | March 17, 1922 | Executed for the murders of a Washington policeman and an auto accessory dealer. [23] | |
Earnest Shands | Black | 29 | Male | March 9, 1923 | Executed for August, 1922 murder of his wife with an axe. [24] | |
George Banton | Black | 20 | Male | April 20, 1923 | Executed for August, 1922 murder of a grocer during a robbery. [25] | |
Charles Price | Black | 32 | Male | May 3, 1923 | Executed for murdering man in May, 1918 in dispute over bottle of liquor. [26] | |
George Epps | Black | 31 | Male | May 24, 1923 | Executed for December, 1921 murders of his wife and her female friend at their home. [27] | |
Rufus Gordon | Black | 37 | Male | June 23, 1923 | Executed for September, 1919 murder of grocer during a robbery. [28] | |
Ralph Thomas | Black | 40 | Male | January 15, 1925 | Executed for the murder of his wife, Sadie Thomas, on August 1, 1923. [29] | Calvin Coolidge |
Herbert Copeland | Black | 50 | Male | January 22, 1925 | Executed for murdering two policemen and a deputy sheriff in 1918. Last condemned inmate to be hanged in the District of Columbia. [30] | |
Philip Jackson | Black | 30 | Male | May 29, 1928 | Executed for attack on woman on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. First condemned inmate to be electrocuted in the District of Columbia. [31] | |
Nicholas Eagles | White | 34 | Male | June 22, 1928 | All three were executed for the murder of Washington policeman Leo W. Karl Busch on September 28, 1926. | |
Samuel Mareno | White | 21 | Male | |||
John Proctor | White | 20 | Male | |||
Andrew Hawkins | Black | 31 | Male | June 5, 1930 | Executed for the December, 1928 murder of his sweetheart. [34] | Herbert Hoover |
Cardoza Bell | Black | 24 | Male | March 6, 1931 | Executed for August, 1929 shotgun murder of his 25 year old female companion. [35] | |
Alfred Aldridge | Black | 21 | Male | May 6, 1932 | Executed for murder of Washington policeman Harry J. McDonald. [36] [37] | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
John Borum | Black | 26 | Male | June 29, 1932 | Executed for the murder of Prohibition (ATF) federal agent Lamar Watson York in 1930. [38] [39] | |
John Logan | Black | 24 | Male | |||
Charles Morris | Black | 33 | Male | March 12, 1932 | Executed for the murder of a woman in July, 1930 on C&O Canal Bridge. [40] | |
William Robinson | Black | 20 | Male | October 27, 1933 | Both men were executed separately for the July 1931 murder of a taxi driver during a hold-up. [41] [42] | |
Charles Washington | Black | 23 | Male | November 24, 1933 | ||
Benjamin Montague | Black | 29 | Male | December 1, 1933 | Executed for the murder of his common-law-wife in June, 1932. [43] | |
Ralph Holmes | Black | 25 | Male | January 12, 1934 | All three men were executed for the August, 1932 beating death of U.S. Park Police Officer Milo J. Kennedy. | |
Joseph Jackson | Black | 20 | Male | |||
Irvin Murray | Black | 26 | Male | |||
Ernest Bolden | Black | 25 | Male | April 27, 1934 | Executed for the July, 1932 murder of his estranged wife. [46] | |
Joe Goodman | Black | 39 | Male | June 1, 1934 | Both men were executed for January, 1933 murder of store owner during robbery of feed store in the Benning area of the District. [47] | |
George Pitmond | Black | 35 | Male | |||
Albert Preston | Black | 38 | Male | March 20, 1936 | Executed for February, 1935 fatal shooting of man in dispute over $1.50 gambling debt. | |
John Cummings | Black | 27 | Male | April 23, 1937 | Both men were executed for the March, 1935 fatal shooting of truck driver during robbery. [49] | |
Willett Marcus | Black | 21 | Male | |||
Norman Robinson | Black | 29 | Male | March 18, 1938 | Executed for the September, 1936 murder of lodging house proprietress. [50] | |
Will Kinard | Black | 38 | Male | February 2, 1939 | Executed for the November, 1936 murder of his wife during domestic argument. [51] | |
William Robinson | Black | 36 | Male | October 9, 1942 | Executed for attack on 15 year old girl near Rock Creek Park in August, 1941. [52] | |
William Mumforde | Black | 22 | Male | December 18, 1942 | Executed for the murder of dress shop owner in February, 1941. [53] | |
Jarvis Catoe | Black | 36 | Male | January 15, 1943 | Executed for the rape and murder of woman, suspected in numerous other similar crimes. [54] | |
Monroe Neely | Black | 37 | Male | December 14, 1945 | Executed for the murder of Washington DC police officer Charles Johnston in May, 1943. [55] [56] | Harry S. Truman |
Earl McFarland | White | 25 | Male | July 19, 1946 | Executed for the rape and murder of 18 year old woman in October, 1944. [57] | |
William Copeland | Black | 38 | Male | December 20, 1946 | Executed for the February, 1944 fatal shooting of his 43 year old sister-in-law. [58] | |
Julius Fisher | Black | 34 | Male | December 20, 1946 | Executed for the March, 1944 murder of 37 year old librarian at the Washington National Cathedral. [59] | |
Joseph Medley | White | 45 | Male | December 20, 1946 | Executed for murder of 50 year old female acquaintance. [60] | |
Alfred Hawkins | Black | 24 | Male | October 31, 1947 | Executed for murder of 33 year old grocery store clerk during holdup robbery. [61] | |
Jesse Patton | Black | 23 | Male | December 10, 1948 | Both men were executed for the murder of a pharmacist during a June, 1946 robbery of drugstore. | |
Reginald Wheeler | Black | 28 | Male | |||
Shirley Harris | Black | 25 | Male | January 14, 1949 | Executed for March, 1947 murder of 54 year old man during a holdup. [63] | |
John Hall | Black | 35 | Male | February 25, 1949 | Executed for October, 1946 rape of 8 year old girl. [64] | |
Theodore Holmes | Black | 22 | Male | March 15, 1949 | Executed for March, 1948 rape of 9 year old girl. [65] | |
George Garner | Black | 26 | Male | July 29, 1949 | Both men were executed for robbery-murder of taxi cab driver in February, 1948. [66] | |
Lawrence Garner | Black | 24 | Male | |||
Fred Pritchett | White | 41 | Male | February 15, 1952 | Executed for July, 1949 murder of locomotive engineer on railroad property in Washington, DC. [67] | |
William Tyler Jr. | Black | 20 | Male | July 26, 1952 | Executed for murder of two night watchmen at Lansburgh's department store in Washington, DC during a burglary in April, 1949. [68] | |
Albert Allen | Black | 25 | Male | March 20, 1953 | Convicted of robbery and murder of co-worker in January, 1950 in Washington, DC. [69] | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Robert Carter | Black | 28 | Male | April 26, 1957 | Convicted of July, 1953 robbery and murder of an off-duty Washington D.C. police officer, George Cassels. Last man to be executed in District of Columbia. [70] [71] | |
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.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty under the criminal justice system of the United States federal government. It can be imposed for treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arkansas.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution in the state was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder.
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Herbert L. Copeland was an American murderer and self-confessed serial killer who was tried, sentenced to death and executed for killing two deputies and a police officer in the District of Columbia in 1918. Moments before being executed, Copeland confessed that he had killed 12 people in various states throughout his lifetime, but none of these could be definitively proven.
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