List of people executed in Tennessee

Last updated November 26, 2025

This is a list of people executed in Tennessee. The state took over executions in 1913; prior to that time they were carried out at the county level.^[1]

Post-Gregg

No.	Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	County	Method	Victim(s)	Governor
1	Robert Glen Coe	White	44	M	April 19, 2000	Weakley	Lethal injection	Cary Ann Medlin	Don Sundquist
2	Sedley Alley	White	50	M	June 28, 2006	Shelby		U. S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins	Phil Bredesen
3	Philip Ray Workman	White	53	M	May 9, 2007	Shelby		Memphis Police Lieutenant Ronald Oliver
4	Daryl Keith Holton	White	45	M	September 12, 2007	Bedford	Electrocution	4 murder victims^[a]
5	Steve Henley	White	55	M	February 4, 2009	Jackson	Lethal injection	Fred Stafford and Edna Stafford
6	Cecil C. Johnson Jr.	Black	53	M	December 2, 2009	Davidson		Bobby Bell Jr., James Moore, and Charles House^[b]
7	William Ray "Billy" Irick	White	59	M	August 9, 2018	Knox		Paula Kay Dyer	Bill Haslam
8	Edmund George Zagorski	White	63	M	November 1, 2018	Robertson	Electrocution	John Dale Dotson and James Wayne Porter
9	David Earl Miller	White	61	M	December 6, 2018	Knox	Electrocution	Lee Standifer
10	Donnie Edward Johnson	White	68	M	May 16, 2019	Shelby	Lethal injection	Connie Johnson	Bill Lee
11	Stephen Michael West	White	56	M	August 15, 2019	Union	Electrocution	Wanda Lou Romines and Sheila Ann Romines
12	Leroy Hall Jr.	White	53	M	December 5, 2019	Hamilton		Traci Latrice Crozier
13	Nicholas Todd Sutton	White	58	M	February 20, 2020	Morgan		Carl Isaac Estep^[c]
14	Oscar Franklin Smith	White	75	M	May 22, 2025	Davidson	Lethal injection	Judith Lynn Smith, Chad Altmon Burnett, and Jason Don Burnett
15	Byron Lewis Black	Black	69	M	August 5, 2025	Davidson	Lethal injection	Angela Clay, Latoya Clay, and Lakeisha Clay ^[d]

Demographics

Race
White	13	87%
Black	2	13%
Age
40–49	2	13%
50–59	8	53%
60–69	4	27%
70–79	1	7%
Sex
Male	15	100%
Date of execution
1976–1979	0	0%
1980–1989	0	0%
1990–1999	0	0%
2000–2009	6	40%
2010–2019	6	40%
2020–2029	3	20%
Method
Lethal injection	9	60%
Electrocution	6	40%
Governor (Party)
Ray Blanton (D)	0	0%
Lamar Alexander (R)	0	0%
Ned McWherter (D)	0	0%
Don Sundquist (R)	1	7%
Phil Bredesen (D)	5	33%
Bill Haslam (R)	3	20%
Bill Lee (R)	6	40%
Total	15	100%

Pre-Furman

Source:^[2]
Name	Date of execution
Julius Morgan	July 13, 1916
J. D. Williams	July 8, 1918
Eddie Alsup	July 8, 1918
Frank Ewing	May 31, 1919
Winfred Walker	January 8, 1920
Lorenzo Young	September 3, 1920
Cyre Mus Jackson	August 3, 1921
Taylor Neal	August 3, 1921
Hamp Gholston	August 17, 1921
Chesley Graham
Will Allen
John Green	February 17, 1922
Asbury Fields	February 18, 1922
Tom Christmas	March 1, 1922
Charles Petree
John McClure
Otto Stephens
Maurice Mays	March 15, 1922
Granville Bunch	April 11, 1922
William Dwight	July 25, 1922
Austin Harris	August 15, 1922
Jim McElroy	August 15, 1922
Bin Burchfield	January 14, 1925
Robert Tate	November 5, 1925
Charles Barr	August 20, 1926
John F. Webb	May 20, 1927
John H. Wallace	May 25, 1927
Herman Coggins	November 10, 1927
Ben Fowler	January 25, 1928
Will Terrell	June 19, 1929
"Henry"	August 22, 1929
John Jones	February 14, 1930
Carey Gune	March 14, 1930
J. T. Harris	January 22, 1931
John T. Shaw	July 3, 1931
Oscar Bevins	September 7, 1933
Andrew Wilcoxson	September 7, 1933
Willie Jones	October 30, 1933
Jim Allen	January 5, 1934
Joe Emmory	February 5, 1934
James Swann
Louis Fain
Percy Smith	April 4, 1934
Frank Mays
Jasper Graham
James Pillow	September 1, 1934
John Deal	September 1, 1934
Bill Lee	January 2, 1936
Walter Kennedy
Louis Willis
Ernest Womack	April 1, 1936
E. K. Harris	May 22, 1936
Curley Ballard	August 11, 1936
James Smith
James Clark
Elmer Barrett	November 13, 1936
James Turner	March 5, 1937
James Taylor	March 15, 1937
Anderson Berry	March 17, 1937
Tom Franklin	March 18, 1937
Gus McCoig	April 3, 1937
Roy Wilburn Eatmon	April 16, 1937
William Farmer	April 30, 1937
Howard Dunn	April 30, 1937
Jimmie L. Parrish	August 9, 1937
Fred Ritchie	August 10, 1937
Gus McKinney	April 15, 1938
Arthur Mosby	July 25, 1938
White Miller Tollett	January 11, 1939
Ernest Stanley	January 19, 1939
Frank Murray	March 28, 1939
Hyman Johnson	March 28, 1939
Hubert Harris	April 4, 1939
J. O. Martin	April 10, 1939
Joe McKay
Willie J. Smith
Harley Evans	August 28, 1939
Clyde Willis	January 10, 1940
A.C. Mobley	March 15, 1940
James Goodin	September 4, 1940
William Henry	September 4, 1940
Van Gilmore	April 18, 1941
Walter Reed	July 18, 1941
Willie L. Porter	July 24, 1941
Carl Cole	July 24, 1941
Lawrence West	July 30, 1941
Roy Walden	February 13, 1942
John Dockery	February 14, 1942
Ernest Dixon	February 14, 1942
Clarence May	March 20, 1942
John H. Goods	March 20, 1942
William Headen	March 30, 1943
Robert Cannon	March 30, 1943
James Tucker	July 15, 1943
Marshall Spigner	July 15, 1943
Robert Hall	December 15, 1943
George Hambrick	December 15, 1943
Billy Dixon	July 16, 1945
Thomas Walker	March 1, 1946
Johnnie Outlaw	March 1, 1946
George Douglas	July 5, 1946
John H. Luffman	August 30, 1946
Alvin Hicks	August 30, 1946
Albert Duboise	April 11, 1947
John Hodge	June 19, 1947
Fred Jackson	August 11, 1947
James Sandusky	April 22, 1948
John Kelley	April 22, 1948
William C. Turner	August 31, 1948
James M. Scribner
Tommy H. Taylor
Barney Thompson	February 17, 1949
Edward Watson	June 10, 1949
Paul Lacey	November 25, 1949
Clyde Steel	January 24, 1950
Samuel L. Voss	April 15, 1955
Harry Kirkendall	August 1, 1955
Charlie Sullins	August 1, 1955
Robert Crenshaw	September 15, 1955
Robert Allen	March 15, 1957
Billy T. Gibbs	May 6, 1957
Thomas Rutledge	June 15, 1959
William Tines	November 7, 1960

Notes

↑ The 4 victims were: Stephen Holton, Brent Holton, Eric Holton, and Kayla Holton.
↑ Johnson was also convicted of manslaughter for killing a fellow death row inmate and serial killer Laron Williams.
↑ The murder occurred in prison while Sutton was serving life imprisonment for the 1979 murders of two acquaintances and his own grandmother.
↑ Black was sentenced to death and executed for solely the murder of Lakeisha, while he was given double life sentences for the murders of Angela and Latoya.

References

↑ https://deathpenaltyusa.org/usa1/state/tennessee2.htm
↑ "Tennessee Executions". www.tn.gov. Retrieved October 25, 2023.

TN Executions. Tennessee Department of Correction. Retrieved on 2023-10-25.
'I did not kill them' condemned man says. The Tennessean, February 3, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-02-04.
'I commend my life into your hands' Tenn. inmate sings hymns as execution is carried out. Fox 17 Nashville. Retrieved on 2019-05-17.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[2] The 4 victims were: Stephen Holton, Brent Holton, Eric Holton, and Kayla Holton.

[3] Johnson was also convicted of manslaughter for killing a fellow death row inmate and serial killer Laron Williams.

[4] The murder occurred in prison while Sutton was serving life imprisonment for the 1979 murders of two acquaintances and his own grandmother.

[5] Black was sentenced to death and executed for solely the murder of Lakeisha, while he was given double life sentences for the murders of Angela and Latoya.

[1] ttps://deathpenaltyusa.org/usa1/state/tennessee2.htm

[6] "Tennessee Executions". www.tn.gov. Retrieved October 25, 2023.

[1]

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[2]

v t e Capital punishment in the United States
Jurisdictions	Federal government Military Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming American Samoa Guam Puerto Rico Washington, D.C.
People executed by state	Federal government Military Alabama (pre-1972) Arizona (pre-1972) Arkansas (pre-1972) California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida (pre-1972) Georgia (pre-1972) Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky (pre-1972) Louisiana (pre-1972) Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi (pre-1972) Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina (pre-1972) North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma (pre-1972) Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina (pre-1972) South Dakota Tennessee Texas 2020–present Utah Vermont Virginia (pre-1972) Washington (pre-1972) West Virginia Wyoming Washington, D.C.
People executed by year	1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965–1972 1976–1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Scheduled executions
Issues and ethics	Botched executions Death-qualified jury Debate Dual sovereignty doctrine Execution drug shortage Exonerations Juveniles Last meal Participation of medical professionals Race and capital punishment White defendants executed for killing a black victim Wrongful executions
Other	Death row inmates Death row inmates who have exhausted their appeals Death Penalty Information Center Most recent executions by state National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment Women executed since 1976 Women on death row