List of people executed in Arkansas

Last updated November 04, 2024

The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Arkansas since 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in the United States.

List of people executed in Arkansas since 1976

No.	Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	County	Method	Victim(s)	Governor
1	John Edward Swindler	White	46	M	June 18, 1990	Sebastian	Electrocution	Fort Smith police officer Randy Basnett^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Bill Clinton
2	Ronald Gene Simmons	White	49	M	June 25, 1990	Pope	Lethal injection	16 murder victims^{[lower-alpha 2]}
3	Ricky Ray Rector	Black	42	M	January 24, 1992	Faulkner		Conway police officer Robert Martin
4	Steven Douglas Hill	White	25	M	May 7, 1992	Pulaski		Arkansas State police officer Robert Klein
5	Edward Charles Pickens	Black	39	M	May 11, 1994	Prairie		Wesley Noble	Jim Guy Tucker
6	Jonas Hoten Whitmore	White	50	M	May 11, 1994	Montgomery		Essie Mae Black
7	Hoyt Franklin Clines	White	37	M	August 3, 1994	Benton		Donald Lehman
8	Darryl V. Richley	White	43	M
9	James William Holmes	White	37	M
10	Richard Wayne Snell	White	64	M	April 19, 1995	Miller		William Stumpp
11	Barry Lee Fairchild	Black	41	M	August 31, 1995	Pulaski		Marjorie Mason
12	William Frank Parker	White	41	M	August 8, 1996	Benton		James Warren and Sandra Warren	Mike Huckabee
13	Paul Ruiz	Hispanic	49	M	January 8, 1997	Logan		Magazine Town Marshall Marvin Richie and Opal James^{[lower-alpha 3]}^[2]
14	Earl Von Denton	White	47	M		Logan
15	Kirt Douglas Wainwright	Black	30	M		Nevada		Barbara Smith
16	Eugene Wallace Perry	White	53	M	August 6, 1997	Crawford		Kenneth Staton and Suzanne Staton-Ware
17	Wilburn A. Henderson	White	56	M	July 8, 1998	Sebastian		Willa Dean O'Neal
18	Johnie Michael Cox	White	42	M	February 16, 1999	White		Marie Sullens, Margaret Brown, and Billy Brown
19	Marion Albert Pruett	White	49	M	April 12, 1999	Sebastian		Bobbie Jean Robertson^{[lower-alpha 4]}
20	Mark Edward Gardner	White	43	M	September 8, 1999	Sebastian		Joe Joyce, Martha Joyce, and Sara McCurdy
21	Alan Willett	White	52	M	September 8, 1999	Johnson		Eric Willett and Roger Willett
22	Christina Marie Riggs	White	28	F	May 2, 2000	Pulaski		Justin Riggs and Shelby Alexis Riggs
23	David Dewayne Johnson	Black	37	M	December 19, 2000	Pulaski		Leon Brown
24	Clay King Smith	White	30	M	May 8, 2001	Jefferson		5 murder victims^{[lower-alpha 5]}
25	Riley Dobi Noel	Black	31	M	July 9, 2003	Pulaski		Marcell Young, Malak Hussian, and Mustafa Hussian
26	Charles Laverne Singleton	Black	44	M	January 6, 2004	Ashley		Mary Lou York
27	Eric Randall Nance	White	45	M	November 28, 2005	Hot Spring		Julie Heath
28	Ledell T. Lee	Black	51	M	April 20, 2017	Pulaski		Debra Reese	Asa Hutchinson
29	Jack Harold Jones Jr.	White	52	M	April 24, 2017	White		Mary Phillips^{[lower-alpha 6]}
30	Marcel Wayne Williams	Black	46	M	April 24, 2017	Pulaski		Stacy Rae Errickson
31	Kenneth Dewayne Williams	Black	38	M	April 27, 2017	Lincoln		Cecil Boren^{[lower-alpha 7]}

Demographics

Race
White	20	65%
Black	10	32%
Hispanic	1	3%
Age
20–29	2	6%
30–39	8	26%
40–49	14	45%
50–59	6	19%
60–69	1	3%
Sex
Male	30	97%
Female	1	3%
Date of execution
1976–1979	0	0%
1980–1989	0	0%
1990–1999	21	68%
2000–2009	6	19%
2010–2019	4	13%
2020–2029	0	0%
Method
Lethal injection	30	97%
Electrocution	1	3%
Governor (Party)
David Pryor (D)	0	0%
Joe Purcell (D)	0	0%
Bill Clinton (D)	4	13%
Frank D. White (R)	0	0%
Jim Guy Tucker (D)	7	23%
Mike Huckabee (R)	16	52%
Mike Beebe (D)	0	0%
Asa Hutchinson (R)	4	13%
Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R)	0	0%
Total	31	100%

Notes

↑ Swindler was also convicted in South Carolina for killing Gregory Becknell and Dorothy Rhodes
↑ The 16 victims were: Ronald Simmons Jr., Bersabe Simmons, Barbara Simmons, Loretta Simmons, Eddy Simmons, Marianne Simmons, Rebecca Simmons, William Simmons II, Renata Simmons, William Simmons III, Sheila McNulty, Dennis McNulty, Sylvia McNulty, Michael McNulty, Kathleen Kendrick, and James Chaffin.
↑ Ruiz and Von Denton also killed four other people in Louisiana and Oklahoma.
↑ Pruett also killed four other people in New Mexico, Mississippi and Colorado.
↑ The 5 victims were: Misty Erwin, Shelley Sorg, Sean Sorg, Taylor Sorg, and Samantha Rhodes.
↑ Jones also killed Regina Harrison and Lori Barrett in Florida.
↑ Williams was previously convicted of murdering Dominique Hurd and Jerrell Jenkins.

Related Research Articles

In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty in 27 states, throughout the country at the federal level, 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, 19 of them have authority to execute death sentences, with the other 8, as well as the federal government and military, subject to moratoriums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment by the United States federal government</span> Legal penalty in the United States

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.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arkansas.

Capital punishment for juveniles in the United States existed until March 2, 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in Roper v. Simmons. Prior to Roper, there were 71 people on death row in the United States for crimes committed as juveniles.

Hanging has been practiced legally in the United States of America from before the nation's birth, up to 1972 when the United States Supreme Court found capital punishment to be in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Four years later, the Supreme Court overturned its previous ruling, and in 1976, capital punishment was again legalized in the United States. Currently, only New Hampshire has a law specifying hanging as an available secondary method of execution, now only applicable to one person, who was sentenced to capital punishment by the state prior to its repeal in 2019.

Capital punishment is currently a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Kansas, although it has not been used since 1965.

Capital punishment in Delaware was formally abolished in 2024, however it has not been enforced after Delaware’s capital punishment statues were declared unconstitutional by the Delaware Supreme Court on August 2, 2016. The ruling retroactively applies to earlier death sentences, and remaining Delaware death row inmates had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. The capital statute for first-degree murder under Title 11, Chapter 42, Section 09, of the Delaware Code was fully repealed on September 26, 2024.

References

↑ "Execution Database | Death Penalty Information Center". Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved January 25, 2020.
↑ Parrish, Glenn. "Murders Still Fresh, Four Decades Later". Southwest Times Record.

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[2] Swindler was also convicted in South Carolina for killing Gregory Becknell and Dorothy Rhodes

[3] The 16 victims were: Ronald Simmons Jr., Bersabe Simmons, Barbara Simmons, Loretta Simmons, Eddy Simmons, Marianne Simmons, Rebecca Simmons, William Simmons II, Renata Simmons, William Simmons III, Sheila McNulty, Dennis McNulty, Sylvia McNulty, Michael McNulty, Kathleen Kendrick, and James Chaffin.

[4] Ruiz and Von Denton also killed four other people in Louisiana and Oklahoma.

[6] Pruett also killed four other people in New Mexico, Mississippi and Colorado.

[7] The 5 victims were: Misty Erwin, Shelley Sorg, Sean Sorg, Taylor Sorg, and Samantha Rhodes.

[8] Jones also killed Regina Harrison and Lori Barrett in Florida.

[9] Williams was previously convicted of murdering Dominique Hurd and Jerrell Jenkins.

[1] "Execution Database | Death Penalty Information Center". Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved January 25, 2020.

[5] Parrish, Glenn. "Murders Still Fresh, Four Decades Later". Southwest Times Record.

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v t e Capital punishment in the United States
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List of people executed in Arkansas

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