The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Indiana since its statehood.
A total of 20 people convicted of murder have been executed by the state of Indiana in the United States since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977. Before 1995, electrocution was the sole method of execution. This was replaced with lethal injection in 1995. The executions on this list are of those executed by the state government of Indiana; this list does not include persons executed within Indiana by the Federal Government. [1] Two other people, Alton Coleman and Michael Lee Lockhart, were sentenced to death in Indiana, but executed in other states.
No. | Name | Race | Age | Sex | Date of execution | Method | County | Victim(s) | Governor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Steven Timothy Judy | White | 24 | M | March 9, 1981 | Electrocution | Morgan | 4 murder victims [lower-alpha 1] | Robert D. Orr |
2 | William Earl Vandiver | White | 37 | M | October 16, 1985 | Lake | Paul Komyatti | ||
3 | Gregory D. Resnover | Black | 43 | M | December 8, 1994 | Marion | Indianapolis police Sergeant Jack R. Ohrberg | Evan Bayh | |
4 | Tommie J. Smith | Black | 42 | M | July 18, 1996 | Lethal injection | |||
5 | Gary Burris | Black | 40 | M | November 20, 1997 | Kenneth Chambers | Frank O'Bannon | ||
6 | Robert Allan Smith | White | 47 | M | January 29, 1998 | Sullivan | Michael Wedmore | ||
7 | D. H. Fleenor | White | 48 | M | December 9, 1999 | Johnson | Bill Harlow and Nyla Harlow | ||
8 | Gerald Wayne Bivins | White | 41 | M | March 14, 2001 | Boone | William H. Radcliffe | ||
9 | James Lowery | White | 54 | M | June 27, 2001 | Hendricks | Mark and Gertrude Thompson | ||
10 | Kevin Lee Hough | White | 43 | M | May 2, 2003 | Allen | Ted Bosler and Gene Rubrake | ||
11 | Joseph L. Trueblood | White | 46 | M | June 13, 2003 | Tippecanoe | Susan Bowsher, Ashlyn Bowsher, and William Bowsher | ||
12 | Donald Ray Wallace Jr. | White | 47 | M | March 10, 2005 | Vigo | 4 murder victims [lower-alpha 2] | Mitch Daniels | |
13 | William J. Benefiel Jr. | White | 48 | M | April 21, 2005 | Delores Wells | |||
14 | Gregory Scott Johnson | White | 40 | M | May 25, 2005 | Madison | Ruby Hutslar | ||
15 | Kevin Aaron Conner | White | 40 | M | July 27, 2005 | Marion | Steven Wentland, Anthony Moore, and Bruce Voge | ||
16 | Alan Lehman Matheney | White | 54 | M | September 28, 2005 | Lake | Lisa Bianco | ||
17 | Marvin Bieghler | White | 58 | M | January 27, 2006 | Howard | Tommy Miller and Kimberly Jane Miller | ||
18 | David Leon Woods | White | 42 | M | May 4, 2007 | DeKalb | Juan Placencia | ||
19 | Michael Allen Lambert | White | 36 | M | June 15, 2007 | Delaware | Muncie police officer Gregg William Winters | ||
20 | Matthew Eric Wrinkles | White | 49 | M | December 11, 2009 | Vanderburgh | Debra Jean Wrinkles, Tony Fulkerson, and Natalie Fulkerson |
Race | ||
---|---|---|
White | 17 | 85% |
Black | 3 | 15% |
Age | ||
20–29 | 1 | 5% |
30–39 | 3 | 15% |
40–49 | 13 | 65% |
50–59 | 3 | 15% |
Sex | ||
Male | 7 | 100% |
Date of execution | ||
1976–1979 | 0 | 0% |
1980–1989 | 2 | 10% |
1990–1999 | 5 | 25% |
2000–2009 | 13 | 65% |
2010–2019 | 0 | 14% |
2020–2029 | 0 | 0% |
Method | ||
Lethal injection | 17 | 85% |
Electrocution | 3 | 15% |
Governor (Party) | ||
Otis Bowen (R) | 0 | 0% |
Robert D. Orr (R) | 2 | 10% |
Evan Bayh (D) | 2 | 10% |
Frank O'Bannon (D) | 7 | 35% |
Joe Kernan (D) | 0 | 0% |
Mitch Daniels (R) | 9 | 45% |
Mike Pence (R) | 0 | 0% |
Eric Holcomb (R) | 0 | 0% |
Total | 20 | 100% |
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, 19 states currently have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other 8, as well as the federal government and military, 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.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Indiana. The last man executed in the state, excluding federal executions at Terre Haute, was the murderer Matthew Wrinkles in 2009.
In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out as of March 2019, because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Before the moratorium, executions had been 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.
Steven Timothy Judy was an American mass murderer and suspected serial killer who was convicted of murdering Terry Lee Chasteen and her three children: Misty Ann, Steve, and Mark, on April 28, 1979. He was executed for the murders on March 9, 1981, via electrocution, becoming the first person to be executed in Indiana since 1961.
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 abolished after being 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. Despite this, the capital statute for first-degree murder under Title 11, Chapter 42, Section 09, of the Delaware Code has yet to be repealed, though it is unenforceable.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Pennsylvania. Despite remaining a legal penalty, there have been no executions in Pennsylvania since 1999, and only three since 1976. In February 2015, Governor Tom Wolf announced a formal moratorium on executions that is still in effect as of 2023, with incumbent Governor Josh Shapiro continuing Wolf's moratorium. However, capital crimes are still prosecuted and death warrants are still issued.
The relationship between race and capital punishment in the United States has been studied extensively. As of 2014, 42 percent of those on death row in the United States were Black. As of October 2002, there were 12 executions of White defendants where the murder victim was Black, however, there were 178 executed defendants who were Black with a White murder victim. Since then, the number of white defendants executed where the murder victim was black has increased to just 21, whereas the number of Black defendants executed where the murder victim was White has increased to 299. 54 percent of people wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in the United States are black.