List of people executed in California

Last updated December 20, 2023

The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of California since capital punishment was resumed in the United States in 1976.

Since the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court decision of Gregg v. Georgia , the following 13 people convicted of murder have been executed by the state of California.^[1] The first 2 executions were by gas inhalation; all subsequent executions were by lethal injection,^[2] following a 1996 federal court (9th Circuit) ruling that the use of the gas chamber in California was unconstitutional.^[3] A further 2 people sentenced to death in California (Kelvin Malone and Alfredo Prieto) were executed in Missouri and Virginia.^[4]

List of people executed in California since 1976

No.	Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	Method	County	Victim(s)	Governor
1	Robert Alton Harris	White	39	M	April 21, 1992	Gas chamber	San Diego	John Mayeski and Michael Baker	Pete Wilson
2	David Edwin Mason	White	36	M	August 24, 1993	Gas chamber	Alameda	5 murder victims^{[lower-alpha 1]}
3	William George Bonin	White	49	M	February 23, 1996	Lethal injection	Los Angeles and Orange	14 murder victims^{[lower-alpha 2]}
4	Keith Daniel Williams	White	48	M	May 3, 1996		Merced	Lourdes Meza, Miguel Vargas, and Salvador Vargas
5	Thomas Martin Thompson	White	43	M	July 14, 1998		Orange	Ginger Fleischli
6	Jaturun Siripongs	Asian	47	M	February 9, 1999		Orange	Packovan Wattanaporn and Quach Nguyen	Gray Davis
7	Manuel Pina Babbitt	Black	50	M	May 4, 1999		Sacramento	Leah Schendel
8	Darrell Keith Rich	Native American	45	M	March 15, 2000		Shasta	4 murder victims^{[lower-alpha 3]}
9	Robert Lee Massie	White	59	M	March 27, 2001		San Francisco	Boris G. Naumoff
10	Stephen Wayne Anderson	White	48	M	January 29, 2002		San Bernardino	Elizabeth Lyman
11	Donald Jay Beardslee	White	61	M	January 19, 2005		San Mateo	Stacey Benjamin and Patty Geddling	Arnold Schwarzenegger
12	Stanley Tookie Williams	Black	51	M	December 13, 2005		Los Angeles	4 murder victims^{[lower-alpha 4]}
13	Clarence Ray Allen	Native American	76	M	January 17, 2006		Glenn	4 murder victims^{[lower-alpha 5]}

Demographics

Race
White	8	63%
Black	2	15%
Native American	2	15%
Asian	1	8%
Age
20–29	0	0%
30–39	2	15%
40–49	6	46%
50–59	3	23%
60–69	1	8%
70–79	1	8%
Sex
Male	13	100%
Date of execution
1976–1979	0	0%
1980–1989	0	0%
1990–1999	7	54%
2000–2009	6	46%
2010–2019	0	0%
2020–2029	0	0%
Method
Lethal injection	11	85%
Gas Chamber	2	15%
Governor (Party)
Jerry Brown (D)	0	0%
George Deukmejian (R)	0	0%
Pete Wilson (R)	5	38%
Gray Davis (D)	5	38%
Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)	3	23%
Jerry Brown (D)	0	0%
Gavin Newsom (D)	0	0%
Total	13	100%

Notes

↑ The 5 victims were: Joan Picard, Arthur Jennings, Boyd Johnson, Antionette Brown, and Dorothy Land.
↑ The 14 victims were: Marcus Grabs, Donald Hyden, David Murillo, Dennis Frank Fox, Charles Miranda, James McCabe, Ronald Gatlin, Harry Todd Turner, Russell Rugh, Glenn Barker, Steven Wood, Darin Lee Kendrick, Lawrence Sharp, and Steven Jay Wells.
↑ The 4 victims were: Annette Fay Edwards, Patricia Ann Moore, Linda Diane Slavik, and Annette Lynn Selix.
↑ The 4 victims were: Albert Owens, Yen-Yi Yang, Tsai-Shai Lin, and Yee-Chen Lin.
↑ The 4 victims were: Mary Sue Kitts, Bryon Schletewitz, Josephine Rocha, and Douglas White.

Related Research Articles

A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide.

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. The existence of capital punishment in the United States can be traced to early colonial Virginia. Along with Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, the United States is one of four 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.

In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is a legal penalty. However it is not allowed to be carried out as of June 2023, because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Prior to the moratorium, executions were frozen by a federal court order since 2006, and the litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Thus, there will be a court-ordered moratorium on executions after the termination of Newsom's moratorium if capital punishment remains a legal penalty in California by then.

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

The U.S. state of Washington enforced capital punishment until the state's capital punishment statute was declared null and void and abolished in practice by a state Supreme Court ruling on October 11, 2018. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional as applied due to racial bias however it did not render the wider institution of capital punishment unconstitutional and rather required the statute to be amended to eliminate racial biases. From 1904 to 2010, 78 people were executed by the state; the last was Cal Coburn Brown on September 10, 2010. In April 2023, Governor Jay Inslee signed SB5087 which formally abolished capital punishment in Washington State and removed provisions for capital punishment from state law.

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

Capital punishment is one of two possible penalties for aggravated murder in the U.S. state of Oregon, with it being required by the Constitution of Oregon.

Capital punishment in Alabama is a legal penalty. Alabama has the highest per capita capital sentencing rate in the United States. In some years, its courts impose more death sentences than Texas, a state that has a population five times as large. However, Texas has a higher rate of executions both in absolute terms and per capita.

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 Missouri first used in 1810 is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Missouri.

References

↑ "Execution Database | Death Penalty Information Center". Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved May 23, 2019.
↑ "The History of Capital Punishment in California". California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation . Archived from the original on 2016-03-02. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
↑ Fierro, Ruiz, Harris v. Gomez, 77F.3d301 (U.S. 9th Circuit1996).
↑ "Inmates Executed 1978 to Present". California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation . Retrieved November 17, 2021.

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[5] The 5 victims were: Joan Picard, Arthur Jennings, Boyd Johnson, Antionette Brown, and Dorothy Land.

[6] The 14 victims were: Marcus Grabs, Donald Hyden, David Murillo, Dennis Frank Fox, Charles Miranda, James McCabe, Ronald Gatlin, Harry Todd Turner, Russell Rugh, Glenn Barker, Steven Wood, Darin Lee Kendrick, Lawrence Sharp, and Steven Jay Wells.

[7] The 4 victims were: Annette Fay Edwards, Patricia Ann Moore, Linda Diane Slavik, and Annette Lynn Selix.

[8] The 4 victims were: Albert Owens, Yen-Yi Yang, Tsai-Shai Lin, and Yee-Chen Lin.

[9] The 4 victims were: Mary Sue Kitts, Bryon Schletewitz, Josephine Rocha, and Douglas White.

[1] "Execution Database | Death Penalty Information Center". Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved May 23, 2019.

[ReferenceCDCR-2] "The History of Capital Punishment in California". California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation . Archived from the original on 2016-03-02. Retrieved 2018-08-12.

[3] Fierro, Ruiz, Harris v. Gomez, 77F.3d301 (U.S. 9th Circuit1996).

[4] "Inmates Executed 1978 to Present". California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation . Retrieved November 17, 2021.

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List of people executed in California

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