The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Mississippi since capital punishment was resumed in the United States in 1976.
Since 1976, 23 people convicted of capital murder have been executed by the state of Mississippi. Of the 23 people executed, 4 were executed via gas chamber and 19 via lethal injection. [1]
No. | Name | Race | Age | Sex | Date of execution | County | Method | Victim(s) | Governor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jimmy Lee Gray | White | 34 | M | September 2, 1983 | Jackson | Gas chamber [lower-alpha 1] | Deressa Jean Scales | William Winter |
2 | Edward Earl Johnson | Black | 26 | M | May 20, 1987 | Leake | Walnut Grove police officer J. T. Trest | William Allain | |
3 | Connie Ray Evans | Black | 27 | M | July 8, 1987 | Hinds | Arun Pahwa | ||
4 | Leo E. Edwards Jr. | Black | 36 | M | June 21, 1989 | Linzy Don Dixon | Ray Mabus | ||
5 | Tracy Alan Hansen | White | 39 | M | July 17, 2002 | Harrison | Lethal injection | Mississippi Highway Patrol officer David Bruce Ladner | Ronnie Musgrove |
6 | Jessie Derrell Williams | White | 51 | M | December 11, 2002 | Jackson | Karon Ann Pierce | ||
7 | John B. Nixon | White | 77 | M | December 14, 2005 | Rankin | Virginia Tucker | Haley Barbour | |
8 | Bobby Glen Wilcher | White | 43 | M | October 18, 2006 | Scott | Katie Bell Moore and Velma Odell Noblin | ||
9 | Earl Wesley Berry | White | 49 | M | May 21, 2008 | Chickasaw | Mary Bounds | ||
10 | Dale Leo Bishop | White | 34 | M | July 23, 2008 | Lee | Marcus James Gentry | ||
11 | Paul Everette Woodward | White | 62 | M | May 19, 2010 | Perry | Rhonda Crane | ||
12 | Gerald James Holland | White | 72 | M | May 20, 2010 | Harrison | Krystal King | ||
13 | Joseph Daniel Burns | White | 42 | M | July 21, 2010 | Lee | Floyd Melvin McBride | ||
14 | Benny Joe Stevens | White | 52 | M | May 10, 2011 | Marion | 4 murder victims [lower-alpha 2] | ||
15 | Rodney Gray | Black | 39 | M | May 17, 2011 | Newton | Grace Blackwell | ||
16 | Edwin Hart Turner | White | 38 | M | February 8, 2012 | Carroll | Eddie Brooks and Everett Curry | Phil Bryant | |
17 | Larry Matthew Puckett | White | 35 | M | March 20, 2012 | Forrest | Rhonda Hatten Griffis | ||
18 | William Gerald Mitchell | Black | 61 | M | March 22, 2012 | Harrison | Patty Milliken | ||
19 | Henry Curtis Jackson | Black | 47 | M | June 5, 2012 | Leflore | 4 murder victims [lower-alpha 3] | ||
20 | Jan Michael Brawner | White | 34 | M | June 12, 2012 | Tate | 4 murder victims [lower-alpha 4] | ||
21 | Gary Carl Simmons Jr. | White | 49 | M | June 20, 2012 | Jackson | Jeffrey Wolfe | ||
22 | David Neal Cox Sr. | White | 50 | M | November 17, 2021 | Union | Kim Kirk Cox [lower-alpha 5] | Tate Reeves | |
23 | Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. | White | 58 | M | December 14, 2022 | Itawamba | Leesa Marie Gray |
Race | ||
---|---|---|
White | 17 | 74% |
Black | 6 | 26% |
Age | ||
20–29 | 2 | 9% |
30–39 | 8 | 35% |
40–49 | 5 | 22% |
50–59 | 4 | 17% |
60–69 | 2 | 9% |
70-79 | 2 | 9% |
Sex | ||
Male | 23 | 100% |
Date of execution | ||
1976–1979 | 0 | 0% |
1980–1989 | 4 | 17% |
1990–1999 | 0 | 0% |
2000–2009 | 6 | 26% |
2010–2019 | 11 | 48% |
2020–2029 | 2 | 9% |
Method | ||
Lethal injection | 19 | 83% |
Gas chamber | 4 | 17% |
Governor (Party) | ||
Cliff Finch (D) | 0 | 0% |
William F. Winter (D) | 1 | 4% |
William Allain (D) | 2 | 9% |
Ray Mabus (D) | 1 | 4% |
Kirk Fordice (R) | 0 | 0% |
Ronnie Musgrove (D) | 2 | 9% |
Haley Barbour (R) | 9 | 39% |
Phil Bryant (R) | 6 | 26% |
Tate Reeves (R) | 2 | 9% |
Total | 23 | 100% |
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other 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 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.
Capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out in the U.S. state of California, due to both a standing 2006 federal court order against the practice and a 2019 moratorium on executions ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. The litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Should the moratorium end and the freeze concluded, executions could resume under the current state law.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Nevada.
Capital punishment was abolished via the legislative process on May 2, 2013, in the U.S. state of Maryland.
Edward Earl Johnson was a man convicted in 1979 at the age of 18 and subsequently executed by the U.S. state of Mississippi for the murder of a policeman, J.T. Trest, and the sexual assault of a 69-year-old woman, Sally Franklin. Throughout his eight years on death row, he continued to plead his innocence. Johnson was executed by gas chamber.
Jimmy Lee Gray was an American criminal convicted for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of three-year-old Deressa Jean Scales in 1976. At the time of this murder, he was free on parole after serving seven years of a 20-year-to-life sentence for the 1968 murder of his 16-year-old girlfriend, Elda Louise Prince in Parker, Arizona. Scales's parents later sued the state of Arizona for releasing Gray.
Luis José Monge was a convicted mass murderer who was executed in the gas chamber at Colorado State Penitentiary in 1967. Monge was the last inmate to be executed before an unofficial moratorium on execution that lasted for more than four years while most death penalty cases were on appeal, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, invalidating all existing death penalty statutes as written.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Mississippi.