The following is a list of people executed by the United States federal government.
Sixteen executions (none of them military) have occurred in the modern post-Gregg era. [1] Since 1963, sixteen people have been executed under federal jurisdiction by the United States federal government. All were executed by lethal injection at USP Terre Haute. [2]
No. | Name | Race | Age | Sex | Date of execution | Crime | President |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Timothy McVeigh | White | 33 | M | June 11, 2001 | Murder of eight federal law enforcement officers through the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The bombing killed 168 people and injured over 680 others. | George W. Bush |
2 | Juan Raul Garza | Hispanic | 44 | M | June 19, 2001 | Murder of Thomas Albert Rumbo, Gilberto Matos, and Erasmo De La Fuente in conjunction with a drug-smuggling ring in the early 1990s. The jury also found beyond a reasonable doubt that he was responsible for the murders of Antonio Nieto, Bernabe Sosa, Diana Flores Villareal, Oscar Cantu, and Fernando Escobar Garcia. | |
3 | Louis Jones Jr. | Black | 53 | M | March 18, 2003 | Kidnapping, rape, and murder of 19-year-old U.S. Army Private Tracie McBride on February 18, 1995. | |
4 | Daniel Lewis Lee | White | 47 | M | July 14, 2020 | Racketeering-related murders of William Mueller, his wife, and his 8-year-old stepdaughter on January 11, 1996. Mueller was a local gun dealer and Lee and his co-defendant, Chevie Kehoe, planned to use stolen merchandise from Mueller to set up a white ethnostate in Spokane, Washington. | Donald Trump |
5 | Wesley Ira Purkey | White | 68 | M | July 16, 2020 | Kidnapping, rape, and murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Long in 1998. Purkey then dismembered and burned her body and scattered the remains into a septic pond. He was also convicted of the murder of 80-year-old polio patient, Mary Ruth Bales, in state court. | |
6 | Dustin Lee Honken | White | 52 | M | July 17, 2020 | Murder of five people in Iowa in 1993. Honken, who was aided by his girlfriend, Angela Johnson, committed the murders to eliminate witnesses against his drug dealing operation. | |
7 | Lezmond Charles Mitchell | Native American | 38 | M | August 26, 2020 | Carjacking, kidnapping, robbery, and murder of 63-year-old Alyce Slim and her 9-year-old granddaughter Tiffany Lee on October 28, 2001. He stabbed Slim 33 times to her death and slit Lee's throat before dropping rocks on her head. Lezmond's co-defendant, 16-year-old Johnny Orsinger, received a life sentence since he was too young to be executed. | |
8 | Keith Dwayne Nelson | White | 45 | M | August 28, 2020 | Kidnapping, rape, and murder of 10-year-old Pamela Butler on October 12, 1999. | |
9 | William Emmett LeCroy Jr. | White | 50 | M | September 22, 2020 | Carjacking, rape, and murder of Joann Lee Tiesler on October 7, 2001. | |
10 | Christopher Andre Vialva | Black | 40 | M | September 24, 2020 | Carjacking, kidnapping, robbery, and murder of Todd and Stacie Bagley on June 21, 1999 at Fort Hood. | |
11 | Orlando Cordia Hall | Black | 49 | M | November 19, 2020 | Kidnapping, rape, and murder of 16-year-old Lisa Rene in 1994. | |
12 | Brandon Bernard | Black | 40 | M | December 10, 2020 | Carjacking, kidnapping, robbery, and murder of Todd and Stacie Bagley in 1999 at Fort Hood. | |
13 | Alfred Bourgeois | Black | 56 | M | December 11, 2020 | Sexual assault, abuse, torture, and murder of his 2-year-old daughter Jakaren Harrison in June 2002 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. | |
14 | Lisa Marie Montgomery | White | 52 | F | January 13, 2021 | Murder of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett and kidnapping of Stinnett's daughter from her womb on December 16, 2004. | |
15 | Corey Johnson | Black | 52 | M | January 14, 2021 | Murder of seven people in Richmond, Virginia, in 1992 as part of a drug-trafficking ring. | |
16 | Dustin John Higgs | Black | 48 | M | January 16, 2021 | Kidnapping and murder of three women on the Patuxent Research Refuge on January 27, 1996. |
From 1790 to 1963, there were 332 Federal, 271 Territorial and 40 Indian Tribunal executions according to the most complete records. [3] The youngest person executed was James Arcene on June 18, 1885, at the age of 23 for his role in a robbery and murder committed when he was 10 years old.
Name | Method | Offense | Date of execution | Location | Note | President |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allen Walkingshield | Hanging | Murder on an Indian reservation | October 24, 1902 | Minnehaha County Jail, Sioux Falls, South Dakota | Killed a woman on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. [4] | Theodore Roosevelt |
George Bear | Hanging | Murder on an Indian reservation | December 5, 1902 | Minnehaha County Jail, Sioux Falls, South Dakota | Killed two men on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. [5] | |
Harry Scott | Hanging | Murder on the high seas | July 6, 1906 | New Hanover County Jail, Wilmington, North Carolina | Killed five crew members during a mutiny aboard the vessel the Harry Berwind. [6] | |
John Goodwin | Hanging | Murder on an Indian reservation | May 13, 1913 | Gila County Jail, Gila County, Arizona | Killed two merchants on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. [7] | Woodrow Wilson |
William Stewart | Hanging | Murder on an Indian reservation | May 30, 1914 | |||
Henry Brown | Hanging | Murder on federal property | September 1, 1921 | Baltimore City Jail, Baltimore, Maryland | Killed a nurse at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. [8] | Warren Harding |
Sam Greenhill | Hanging | Murder on federal property | October 9, 1925 | Lauderdale County Jail, Florence, Alabama | Killed a War Department police officer who had apprehended him poaching near the Nitrate Plant No. 1 at the federal reservation in Muscle Shoals. [9] [10] | Calvin Coolidge |
George Sujyanmie | Hanging | Murder on military reservation | October 10, 1925 | Fort Whipple, Prescott, Arizona | Killed a man on the grounds of Fort Whipple, Arizona. [11] | |
James Alderman | Hanging | Murder on the high seas | August 17, 1929 | Coast Guard Base Six, Fort Lauderdale, Florida | Killed two U.S. coastguardsmen and a Secret Service agent. [12] | Herbert Hoover |
Carl Panzram | Hanging | Murder | September 5, 1930 | United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas | Killed a federal prison employee. Linked to 4 other murders; claimed to have killed 22 people. | |
George Barrett | Hanging | Murder of a federal officer | March 24, 1936 | Marion County Jail, Indiana | The first person to be executed under a law that made it a capital offense to kill a federal agent. | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
Arthur Gooch | Hanging | Kidnapping | June 19, 1936 | Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma | The only person executed under the Federal Kidnapping Act in which the victim did not die. | |
Earl Gardner | Hanging | Murder on an Indian reservation | July 12, 1936 | Coolidge Dam, Gila County, Arizona | Killed his wife and son on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. [13] | |
Anthony Chebatoris | Hanging | Murder during a bank robbery | July 8, 1938 | Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), Milan, Michigan | The only person ever to be executed from the State of Michigan since its admission to the Union. | |
Henry Seadlund | Electrocution | Kidnapping and murder | July 14, 1938 | Cook County Jail, Illinois | Killed a man during a kidnapping for ransom. [14] | |
Robert Suhay | Hanging | Murder of a federal officer | August 12, 1938 | United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas | Killed an FBI agent during an attempted arrest. [15] [16] | |
Glenn Applegate | Hanging | Murder of a federal officer | ||||
James Dalhover | Electrocution | Bank robbery and murder | November 18, 1938 | Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Indiana | Killed an Indiana State Police trooper during a bank robbery in Logansport, Indiana on May 25, 1937. [17] [18] | |
Hanging | Murder | November 10, 1939 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | Killed his mother-in-law in the Alaska federal territory. [19] | ||
Herbert Hans Haupt | Electrocution | Espionage and attempted sabotage as unlawful combatants for Nazi Germany | August 8, 1942 | D.C. Jail, Washington, D.C. | Tried on July 8, 1942, by a military tribunal for their role in Operation Pastorius during World War II. | |
Richard Quirin | ||||||
Heinrich Heinck | ||||||
Edward Kerling | ||||||
Herman Neubauer | ||||||
Werner Thiel | ||||||
Clyde Arwood | Electrocution | Murder of a federal officer | August 14, 1943 | Tennessee State Prison, Nashville, Tennessee | Killed a federal agent during a moonshine raid. | |
Henry Ruhl | Gas inhalation | Murder on a government reservation | April 27, 1945 | Wyoming State Penitentiary, Rawlins, Wyoming | Killed a war production worker on federal property near Laramie. [20] | Harry S. Truman |
Austin Nelson | Hanging | Murder | March 1, 1948 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | Killed a Juneau grocery store owner in 1946. [21] | |
David Joseph Watson | Electrocution | Murder on the high seas | September 15, 1948 | Florida State Prison, near Raiford, Florida | Killed a fellow sailor on board the USS Stribling in 1946. [22] | |
Samuel Richard Shockley | Gas inhalation | Murder | December 3, 1948 | California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California | Convicted for their roles in the Battle of Alcatraz. | |
Miran Edgar Thompson | Gas inhalation | Murder | ||||
Carlos Romero Ochoa | Gas inhalation | Murder of a federal officer | December 10, 1948 | California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California | Killed an immigration patrol officer near Indio, California in 1947. [23] | |
Eugene LaMoore | Hanging | Murder | April 14, 1950 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | Killed a Juneau grocery store owner in 1946. [24] | |
Julius Rosenberg | Electrocution | Espionage | June 19, 1953 | New York State Prison, Sing Sing, Ossining, New York | Convicted for spying on behalf of the Soviet Union and leaking American military secrets, including nuclear weapons designs. | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Ethel Rosenberg | ||||||
Carl Austin Hall | Gas inhalation | Kidnapping and murder | December 18, 1953 | Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri | Convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Greenlease. | |
Bonnie Emily Heady | Kidnapping and murder | |||||
Gerhard Puff | Electrocution | Murder of a federal officer | August 12, 1954 | New York State Prison, Sing Sing, Ossining, New York | Killed an FBI Special Agent. | |
Arthur Ross Brown | Gas inhalation | Kidnapping and murder | February 24, 1956 | Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri | Kidnapped and murdered Wilma Allen in Kansas City, Missouri. [25] | |
George Krull | Electrocution | Kidnapping and rape | August 21, 1957 | Georgia State Prison, Reidsville, Georgia | Kidnapped and raped a woman from Chattanooga, Tennessee. | |
Michael Krull | ||||||
Victor Feguer | Hanging | Kidnapping and murder | March 15, 1963 | Iowa State Penitentiary, Fort Madison, Iowa | Kidnapped and murdered a physician from Dubuque, Iowa. | John F. Kennedy |
The United States military has executed 135 people since 1916. The most recent person to be executed by the military is U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett, executed on April 13, 1961, for rape and attempted murder. Since the end of the Civil War in 1865, only one person has been executed for a purely military offense: Private Eddie Slovik, who was executed on January 31, 1945, after being convicted of desertion. [26] [27] [28]
Edward Donald Slovik was a United States Army soldier during World War II and the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Although over 21,000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik's death sentence was the only one that was carried out.
Capital punishment, also called the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as a punishment for a crime. It has historically been used in almost every part of the world. By the 2010s, many countries had either abolished or discontinued the practice. In 2022, the five countries with the highest number of people executed were, in descending order: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States of America.
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading, is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually readily available and a gunshot to a vital organ, such as the brain or heart, most often will kill relatively quickly.
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. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 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.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment under the criminal justice system of the United States federal government. It is the most serious punishment that could be imposed under federal law. The serious crimes that warrant this punishment include treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases.
Anthony Chebatoris was a Russian-born bank robber and convicted murderer who is the only person to be executed in the U.S. state of Michigan since it gained statehood in 1837. Although Michigan abolished capital punishment for murder in 1847, Chebatoris was tried under the new Federal Bank Robbery Act of 1934, which made bank robbery and its related offenses federal crimes, beyond state jurisdiction.
The use of capital punishment by the United States military is a legal punishment in martial criminal justice. Despite its legality, capital punishment has not been imposed by the U.S. military in over sixty years.
Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by opponents of capital punishment, while proponents say that the argument of innocence concerns the credibility of the justice system as a whole and does not solely undermine the use of the death penalty.
Capital punishment in Australia was a form of punishment in Australia that has been abolished in all jurisdictions. Queensland abolished the death penalty in 1922. Tasmania did the same in 1968. The Commonwealth abolished the death penalty in 1973, with application also in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Victoria did so in 1975, South Australia in 1976, and Western Australia in 1984. New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955, and for all crimes in 1985. In 2010, the Commonwealth Parliament passed legislation prohibiting the re-establishment of capital punishment by any state or territory. Australian law prohibits the extradition or deportation of a prisoner to another jurisdiction if they could be sentenced to death for any crime.
Henry Ruhl was a spree killer and the only person executed in Wyoming by the U.S. government. This was also the second-to-last pre-Furman execution in the state and third-to-last as of 2022.
Capital punishment, more commonly known as the death penalty, was a legal form of punishment from 1620 to 1984 in Massachusetts, United States. This practice dates back to the state's earliest European settlers. Those sentenced to death were hanged. Common crimes punishable by death included religious affiliations and murder.
Capital punishment is a legal criminal penalty in Somalia, a nation in East Africa. Legally sanctioned executions of the death penalty in Somalia are carried out by shooting, in accordance with the 1962 Somali Penal Code and the Military Penal Code. Sharia and Islamic tribunals are recognised in Somalia in parallel with the civil law: these would have the authority to order execution by other means, such as beheading and stoning. Since at least the start of the 21st century, all executions by such methods have been applied ad-hoc, without official sanction, by non-state insurgent militias, in the context of an unstable government, and the ongoing civil war. A number of these extrajudicial executions have violated sharia legal principles and appear to have a conflict-related tactical aim of inciting fear amongst civilians. Both officially sanctioned and extrajudicial executions by firing squad often occur in public.
Capital punishment has never been practiced Alaska throughout its history as a state, as it was abolished in 1957. Between December 28, 1869, and April 14, 1950, between the Department, District, and Territory of Alaska, twelve felons, all male, were executed by hanging for murder, robbery, and other crimes. Some were European, some were Native American, and two were African. The territorial legislature abolished capital punishment in 1957 during preparations for statehood, making Alaska the first in the West Coast of the United States to outlaw executions, along with Hawaii, which did the same.
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