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 | 73.91% |
Black | 6 | 26.09% |
Age | ||
20–29 | 2 | 8.70% |
30–39 | 8 | 34.78% |
40–49 | 5 | 21.74% |
50–59 | 4 | 17.39% |
60–69 | 2 | 8.70% |
70-79 | 2 | 8.70% |
Sex | ||
Male | 23 | 100% |
Date of execution | ||
1976–1979 | 0 | 0% |
1980–1989 | 4 | 17.39% |
1990–1999 | 0 | 0% |
2000–2009 | 6 | 26.09% |
2010–2019 | 11 | 47.83% |
2020–2029 | 2 | 8.70% |
Method | ||
Lethal injection | 19 | 82.61% |
Electrocution | 4 | 17.39% |
Governor | ||
Cliff Finch (D) | 0 | 0% |
William F. Winter (D) | 1 | 4.35% |
William Allain (D) | 2 | 8.70% |
Ray Mabus (D) | 1 | 4.35% |
Kirk Fordice (R) | 0 | 0% |
Ronnie Musgrove (D) | 2 | 8.70% |
Haley Barbour (R) | 9 | 39.13% |
Phil Bryant (R) | 6 | 26.09% |
Tate Reeves (R) | 2 | 8.70% |
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 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, like 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, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, the United States is one of five 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 March 2019, 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.
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.
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.
Capital punishment was abolished in Colorado in 2020. It was legal from 1974 until 2020 prior to it being abolished. All valid death sentences as of 2020 have since been commuted to life sentences by governor Jared Polis.
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.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arizona. After the execution of Joseph Wood in 2014, executions were temporarily suspended but resumed in 2022. On January 23, 2023, newly inaugurated governor Katie Hobbs ordered a review of death penalty protocols and in light of that, newly inaugurated attorney general Kris Mayes issued a hold on any executions in the state.