List of people executed in Nebraska

The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Nebraska since its statehood.

Post-Gregg

Four people convicted of murder have been executed by Nebraska since 1976. ^[1] Three were executed by electrocution. On April 21, 2011, the Nebraska Supreme Court set the first execution date via lethal injection for June 14, 2011. On May 26, 2011, the Nebraska Supreme Court stayed the execution due to objections that the sodium thiopental that Nebraska purchased from a Mumbai company failed to comply with U.S. pharmaceutical standards. The state's first lethal injection was carried out on August 14, 2018. ^[2]

No.	Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	County	Method	Victim(s)	Governor
1	Harold Lamont Otey	Black	43	M	September 2, 1994	Douglas	Electrocution	Jane McManus	Ben Nelson
2	John Joseph Joubert	White	33	M	July 17, 1996	Sarpy		Danny Eberle and Christopher Walden [a]
3	Robert E. Williams	Black	61	M	December 2, 1997	Lancaster		Catherine Brooks and Patricia McGarry [b]
4	Carey Dean Moore	White	60	M	August 14, 2018	Douglas	Lethal injection	Maynard D. Helgeland and Reuel Eugene Van Ness Jr.	Pete Ricketts

Demographics

Race
Black	2	50%
White	2	50%
Age
30–39	1	25%
40–49	1	25%
50–59	0	0%
60–69	2	50%
Sex
Male	4	100%
Date of execution
1976–1979	0	0%
1980–1989	0	0%
1990–1999	3	75%
2000–2009	0	0%
2010–2019	1	25%
2020–2029	0	0%
Method
Electrocution	3	75%
Lethal injection	1	25%
Governor (Party)
J. James Exon (D)	0	0%
Charles Thone (R)	0	0%
Bob Kerrey (D)	0	0%
Kay A. Orr (R)	0	0%
Ben Nelson (D)	3	75%
Mike Johanns (R)	0	0%
Dave Heineman (R)	0	0%
Pete Ricketts (R)	1	25%
Jim Pillen (R)	0	0%
Total	4	100%

Pre-Furman

Before 1903

The first execution in Nebraska reportedly was of Cyrus Tator, a former Kansas Legislature member and judge in Lykins County, Kansas who was tried and convicted of murdering his business partner in 1863. ^[5] Before 1903, counties carried out executions until the state took over. Since Nebraska statehood in 1867, a total of 14 people have been executed.

No.	Executed person	Date of execution	Method	Crime	Victims	Under Governor
1	Stephen D. Richards	April 26, 1879	Hanging	Murder	Peter Anderson and Harlson family	Silas Garber
2	Orlando Caslar	May 20, 1879			George L. Monroe	Albinus Nance
3	Milton W. Smith	July 24, 1885			His wife (name unknown)	James W. Dawes
4	Jim Reynolds	May 21, 1886			James and John Pinkston
5	William Jackson Marion [c]	March 25, 1887			John Cameron	John Milton Thayer
6	David Hoffman	July 22, 1887			James B. DeWitt
7	Albert Haunstine	May 17, 1891			Hiram Roten and William Ashley
8	Christian Furst [d]	June 5, 1891			Carl J. Pulsifer
9	Charles Shepherd [d]
10	Ed Neil	October 9, 1891			Allen and Dorothy Jones
11	Clinton E. Dixon [e]	June 24, 1892			Corporal Thomas Carter	James E. Boyd
12	Harry Hill	March 1, 1895			Mattes Akeson	Silas A. Holcomb
13	Claude H. Hoover	August 7, 1896			Samual DuBois
14	George W. Morgan	October 8, 1897			Ida Gaskill

1903–1972

A total of 20 people were executed by Nebraska after 1897 and before the 1972 Supreme Court capital punishment ban.

No.	Executed person	Date of execution	Method	Crime	Victims	Under Governor
1	Gottlieb Neigenfiend	March 13, 1903	Hanging	Murder	Anna Bryer and Albert Bryer (ex-wife and ex-father in law)	John H. Mickey
2	William Rhea	July 10, 1903			Herman Zahn
3	Harrison Clark	December 13, 1907			Ed Flury	George L. Sheldon
4	Frank Barker	January 17, 1908			Daniel and Alice Barker (his brother and sister in law)
5	Robert M. Shumway	March 5, 1909			Sarah Martin	Ashton C. Shallenberger
6	Bert M. Taylor	January 28, 1910			Pearl Taylor (sister in law)
7	Thomas Johnson	May 19, 1911			Henry R. Frankland	Chester H. Aldrich
8	Albert Prince	March 21, 1913			Nebraska State Penitentiary Deputy Warden Edward D.Davis	John H. Morehead
9	Allen V. Grammer [f]	December 20, 1920	Electrocution		Lulu Vogt (Allen Grammer's mother in law)	Samuel R. McKelvie
10	Alson B. Cole [f]
11	James B. King	June 9, 1922			Nebraska State Penitentiary prison guard Robert L. Taylor
12	Walter R. Simmons	August 11, 1925			Frank Pahl	Adam McMullen
13	Henry E. Bartlett	April 29, 1927			Asa Ranson (Minden, Nebraska Police Chief)
14	Frank Carter	June 24, 1927			William McDevitt and Dr. A.D. Searles
15	Frank E. Sharp	October 19, 1928			Hariet Sharp (his wife)
16	Henry Sherman	May 31, 1929			Roger and Hattie Pochon, Eugenie Pochon	Arthur J. Weaver
17	Joseph T. MacAvoy	March 23, 1945			Anna Milroy	Dwight Griswold
18	Timothy Iron Bear	December 1, 1948			John W. and Grace Stollar	Val Peterson
19	Roland Dean Sundahl	April 30, 1952			Bonnie Lou Merrill
20	Charles Starkweather	June 25, 1959			Robert Jensen [g]	Ralph G. Brooks

See also

• Capital punishment in Nebraska
• Capital punishment in the United States

Notes

1. John Joubert was also tried and convicted of murdering Ricky Stetson in Portland, Maine. He received a life sentence in Maine.
2. Robert E. Williams also murdered Virginia Rowe of Sioux Rapids, Iowa. ^{[3] [4]}
3. William Jackson Marion was convicted and executed for the murder of John Cameron. However, Cameron turned up alive in 1891. Marion received a posthumous pardon by Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey on the 100th anniversary of his execution.
4. Although Christian Furst and Charles Shepherd are listed at 8 and 9, the two were hanged together simultaneously in the only double hanging in Nebraska's history.
5. Private Clinton Dixon and his victim Corporal Thomas Carter were both members of the U.S. Army (Sixth U.S. Cavalry) making Dixon's execution a U.S. military execution. As such, only the President could grant clemency. President Benjamin Harrison declined to intervene.
6. Allen Grammer and Alson Cole were the first men electrocuted, and the only double electrocution in Nebraska. Allen Grammer was the first man to be electrocuted by the State of Nebraska, pronounced dead at 3:24 p.m. Alson Cole was pronounced dead at 3:37 p.m.
7. Although Charles Starkweather murdered 10 people in Nebraska (and one in Wyoming), he was tried, convicted, and executed for only one murder, that of 17-year-old Robert Jensen.

References

1. "Execution Database". Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved June 7, 2023.
2. "NDCS carries out execution of Carey Dean Moore | NDCS - Nebraska Department of Correctional Services". corrections.nebraska.gov. Lincoln, Nebraska. 14 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
3. "Inmate Details: 31861 -- Robert Williams". Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
4. Matthew Waite (3 December 1997). "Williams marks state's third electrocution". Daily Nebraskan. Archived from the original on 27 Oct 2007. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
5. "The Execution of Cyrus Tator," NorthOmahaHistory.com.

External links

• Nebraska executions