The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Pennsylvania .
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976, 3 men, all convicted of murder, have been executed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. All were executed by lethal injection, and in all cases, they waived their appeals and asked that the execution be carried out. [1]
A total of 1,043 people have been executed in Pennsylvania since 1693, [2] [3] the third highest of any other state or commonwealth in the Union, after New York (1,130) and Virginia (1,361). [4]
Until 1915, hanging was the common method of execution. 1915 saw the first use of the electric chair, even though it was approved by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1913. The delay was due to the time needed to finish the Western Penitentiary in Centre County, now the State Correctional Institution – Rockview. On November 29, 1990, Governor Casey changed the form of execution to lethal injection. [5]
The last person to be publicly executed in Pennsylvania was Charles Getter, who was hanged on Getter's Island on January 11, 1833. [6]
No. | Name | Race | Age | Sex | Date of execution | County | Method | Victim(s) | Governor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Keith William Zettlemoyer | White | 39 | M | May 2, 1995 | Dauphin | Lethal injection | Charles DeVetsco | Tom Ridge |
2 | Leon Jerome Moser | White | 52 | M | August 16, 1995 | Philadelphia | Linda Moser, Donna Moser, and Joanne Moser | ||
3 | Gary Michael Heidnik | White | 55 | M | July 6, 1999 | Deborah Dudley and Sandra Lindsay |
Race | ||
---|---|---|
White | 3 | 100% |
Age | ||
30–39 | 1 | 33% |
40–49 | 0 | 0% |
50–59 | 2 | 66% |
Sex | ||
Male | 3 | 100% |
Date of execution | ||
1976–1979 | 0 | 0% |
1980–1989 | 0 | 0% |
1990–1999 | 3 | 100% |
2000–2009 | 0 | 0% |
2010–2019 | 0 | 0% |
2020–2029 | 0 | 0% |
Method | ||
Lethal injection | 3 | 100% |
Governor (Party) | ||
Milton Shapp (D) | 0 | 0% |
Dick Thornburgh (R) | 0 | 0% |
Bob Casey Sr. (D) | 0 | 0% |
Tom Ridge (R) | 3 | 100% |
Mark Schweiker (R) | 0 | 0% |
Ed Rendell (D) | 0 | 0% |
Tom Corbett (R) | 0 | 0% |
Tom Wolf (D) | 0 | 0% |
Josh Shapiro (D) | 0 | 0% |
Total | 3 | 100% |
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.
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Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Oklahoma.
An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death row population is housed. Inside the chamber is the device used to carry out the death sentence.
Old Smokey is a euphemistic name given to the state prison electric chair in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The term has sometimes been used to refer to electric chairs in general, and not the one used in any specific state.
The State Correctional Institution – Rockview is a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections prison located in Centre County, Pennsylvania, 5 miles (8.0 km) away from Bellefonte. The facility is mostly in Benner Township, while a portion of the prison grounds extends into College Township.
Execution by shooting is a method of capital punishment in which a person is shot to death by one or more firearms. It is the most common method of execution worldwide, used in about 70 countries, with execution by firing squad being one particular form.
Capital punishment in Connecticut formerly existed as an available sanction for a criminal defendant upon conviction for the commission of a capital offense. Since the 1976 United States Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia until Connecticut repealed capital punishment in 2012, Connecticut had only executed one person, Michael Bruce Ross in 2005. Initially, the 2012 law allowed executions to proceed for those still on death row and convicted under the previous law, but on August 13, 2015, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that applying capital punishment only for past cases was unconstitutional.
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. 95 executions have been carried out since Arizona became a state in 1914 and there are currently 111 people on death row. In 2023, Governor Katie Hobbs and attorney general Kris Mayes ordered a temporary moratorium on executions pending a review of the State's protocols.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Montana.
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.