List of people executed in the United States in 1950

Eighty-three people, all male, were executed in the United States in 1950, sixty-six by electrocution, fifteen by gas chamber, and two by hanging. ^[1]

List of people executed in the United States in 1950

No.	Date of execution	Name	Age of person			Gender	Ethnicity	State	Method	Ref.
			At execution	At offense	Age difference
1	January 5, 1950	Frank Bruno	33	29	4	Male	White	New York	Electrocution	[2]
2	January 6, 1950	Lee Heller	49	48	1		Black	North Carolina	Gas chamber	[3]
3	January 9, 1950	Edward E. DiPofi Jr.	25	23	2		White	Pennsylvania	Electrocution	[4]
4		Ray Herman Simmons	26		3					[5]
5	January 12, 1950	Eddie Patton	38	34	4		Black	Mississippi		[6]
6		George Peter Reeh	32	31	1		White	New York		[7]
7	January 24, 1950	Clyde Steele	20	18	2		Black	Tennessee		[8]
8	January 26, 1950	Arthur Moore	18	16				Mississippi		[9]
9	January 27, 1950	Eddie Houser Jr.	22	Unknown	Unknown			Georgia		[1]
10	January 29, 1950	Samuel B. Gibson	24	22	2			Texas
11	February 5, 1950	William Wilson Jr.	31	29
12	February 9, 1950	James Wood Morrow Jr.	29	27			White
13	February 24, 1950	Victoriano Corrales	48	47	1		Hispanic	California	Gas chamber	[10]
14		Raymond Ellison	38	36	2		White	Kentucky	Electrocution	[11]
15		Harry Z. Dodds Jr.	21	20	1			Ohio		[12]
16	February 27, 1950	John William Givens	52	49	3			Pennsylvania		[13]
17		George N. Minoff		50	2
18	March 10, 1950	Thomas Edwin Black	28	27	1			Arkansas		[14]
19	March 17, 1950	Hollis Edward Needham	27	26						[15]
20	March 31, 1950	Armand Halcyon Letourneau	40	38	2			California	Gas chamber	[16]
21	April 4, 1950	Buford Tansimore	53	51			Black	New Jersey	Electrocution	[17]
22	April 5, 1950	James Willis Blackmon Jr.	24	23	1			Texas		[1]
23		William Smith Jr.	22	20	2
24	April 14, 1950	Eugene R. LaMoore	46	42	4			Federal government	Hanging	[18]
25	April 21, 1950	Jesse Wyatt	39	38	1			Georgia	Electrocution	[19]
26		Fred Varela	26	24	2		Hispanic	Illinois		[20]
27		Alphonso Najera	27	25
28	April 24, 1950	Robert Louis Smith	41	40	1		White	Arkansas		[1]
29	April 28, 1950	John Patrick Carrigan	29	28				Georgia
30	May 3, 1950	Lee Everett Bunn	27	26			Black	Texas
31	May 6, 1950	George Miller	60	57	3			Kansas	Hanging	[21]
32	May 10, 1950	Theodore Roosevelt McClure Jr.	25	21	4			Ohio	Electrocution	[22]
33	May 17, 1950	Nathaniel Edwards	27	26	1			Texas		[1]
34	May 19, 1950	Charles Henry Tiedt	55	51	4		White	Missouri	Gas chamber	[23]
35		John Robert Bridges	22	21	1			North Carolina		[1]
36	May 25, 1950	John West Pulliam	19	18			Black	Mississippi	Electrocution	[24]
37		Julio Ramirez Perez	38	36	2		Hispanic	New York		[1]
38	May 26, 1950	Charley Smith	25	23			Black	Alabama
39		Robert Frank Bryan	19	Unknown	Unknown			Georgia
40	June 2, 1950	Edward Albert Huizenga	58	57	1		White	California	Gas chamber	[25]
41		Charles Walter Butler	40	36	4		Black	South Carolina	Electrocution	[1]
42	June 5, 1950	Henry Van Tillman	50	49	1		White	Florida		[26]
43	June 9, 1950	William R. Ray	35	33	2			Texas		[27]
44	June 14, 1950	Porter Henderson	47	Unknown	Unknown		Black			[1]
45	June 16, 1950	Columbus Webb	43	41	2		White	Kentucky		[28]
46	June 21, 1950	Felix Ambrose Lewis	47	46	1			Texas		[29]
47	June 22, 1950	Dan White	49	47	2					[30]
48	June 30, 1950	E.T. Preylow	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown		Black	South Carolina		[31]
49		Eugene McFarland	26	25	1			Texas		[32]
50	July 14, 1950	Lovell Shaffer						Mississippi		[33]
51		Otis Wilkerson
52	July 21, 1950	Joe Keith	29	27	2			Alabama		[34]
53		Homer Garland Odom	24	22			White			[35]
54		Claude B. Sims	20	19	1		Black			[36]
55		Claude Everett Shackelford	34	33			White	North Carolina	Gas chamber	[37]
56		Delbert Lovell Spencer	51	47	4			Ohio	Electrocution	[38]
57	July 29, 1950	Angel B. Serna	27	24	3		Hispanic	Arizona	Gas chamber	[39]
58	August 4, 1950	Henry Hooper	45	44	1		Black	California		[40]
59		Larry Elmore	43	Unknown	Unknown			South Carolina	Electrocution	[1]
60	August 18, 1950	Charles Cade	20	19	1			Georgia		[41]
61		Lincoln Mays	24	23
62		Curtis Wynn Jr.	20	19
63	August 24, 1950	James Williams	32	30	2			Nevada	Gas chamber	[42]
64	September 12, 1950	Cecil H. Yankey	42	39	3		White	Ohio	Electrocution	[43]
65	September 25, 1950	Walter Joseph Maloney Jr.		40	2	Pennsylvania		[44]
66		Alexander Niemi	31	29
67	September 29, 1950	George McKay	36	30	6	Black	Georgia	[1]
68	October 6, 1950	Herman Avery	50	49	1		California	Gas chamber	[45]
69		Henry Brun Guldbrandsen	36	34	2	White			[46]
70	October 28, 1950	Jimmie Lee Gardner	27	26	1	Black	Georgia	Electrocution	[1]
71	November 3, 1950	Jimmie Richardson	47	47	0				[47]
72		John Walton Wallace	54	51	3	White			[1]
73	November 10, 1950	Covey Conner Lamm	48	47	1		North Carolina	Gas chamber	[48]
74	November 17, 1950	Willard Truelove	31	30		Black	Illinois	Electrocution	[1]
75		Alfred Rayfield	35	35	0		Virginia
76	November 21, 1950	George A. Kersey Sr.	28	27	1	White	Georgia		[49]
77		Thomas Lynch	31	31	0
78	November 24, 1950	Ernest Lyles	33	Unknown	Unknown		North Carolina	Gas chamber	[1]
79	December 1, 1950	Paul Montez Gutierrez	26	25	1	Hispanic	California		[50]
80		Edward Sanford	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Black	Louisiana	Electrocution	[51]
81	December 8, 1950	Ben Franklin Fuller	43	42	1		Virginia		[52]
82	December 29, 1950	Edward Exnoal Johnson Jr.	31	30			Texas		[1]
83	December 30, 1950	Franklin Sherman Click		25	6	White	Indiana		[53]

Demographics

Gender
Male	83	100%
Female	0	0%
Ethnicity
Black	42	51%
White	35	42%
Hispanic	6	7%
State
Georgia	13	16%
Texas	13	16%
California	7	8%
Pennsylvania	6	7%
Mississippi	5	6%
North Carolina	5	6%
Alabama	4	5%
Ohio	4	5%
Arkansas	3	4%
Illinois	3	4%
New York	3	4%
South Carolina	3	4%
Kentucky	2	2%
Virginia	2	2%
Arizona	1	1%
Federal government	1	1%
Florida	1	1%
Indiana	1	1%
Kansas	1	1%
Louisiana	1	1%
Missouri	1	1%
Nevada	1	1%
New Jersey	1	1%
Tennessee	1	1%
Method
Electrocution	66	80%
Gas chamber	15	18%
Hanging	2	2%
Month
January	10	12%
February	7	8%
March	3	4%
April	9	11%
May	10	12%
June	10	12%
July	8	10%
August	6	7%
September	4	5%
October	3	4%
November	8	10%
December	5	6%
Age
Unknown	2	2%
10–19	3	4%
20–29	32	39%
30–39	19	23%
40–49	17	20%
50–59	9	11%
60–69	1	1%
Total	83	100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1951	101
1950	83
1949	120
Total	304

References

1. "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved July 23, 2025.
2. "Bruno Dies in Chair at Sing Sing". The New York Times. January 6, 1950.
3. "State v. Heller". vLex.
4. "DiPofi Dies in Electric Chair For Slaying Bethel Officer". The Pittsburgh Press. January 9, 1950. p. 1.
5. "DiPofi Shuffles, Prays Way To Death in Electric Chair". The Pittsburgh Press. January 9, 1950. p. 1.
6. "Buster Patton Dies In The Electric Chair". Jackson Advocate via newspapers.com. January 21, 1950. p. 1.
7. "Reeh, Slayer, Is Put to Death". The New York Times. January 13, 1950.
8. "Two To Get Chair in Assault Case". The Knoxville News-Sentinel via newspapers.com. June 17, 1948. p. 9.
9. "Two To Get Chair in Assault Case". Washington Afro-American. January 31, 1950. p. 8.
10. "Slayer of Two Dies Today". The San Francisco Examiner via newspapers.com. February 24, 1950. p. 17.
11. "Muhlenberg County Man Dies in Chair for Bride's Death". Evansville Press via newspapers.com. February 24, 1950. p. 11.
12. "Slayer Of Ohio Church Worker Dies In Chair". Kentucky New Era. February 27, 1950. p. 1.
13. "Two Executed At Rockview". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. February 27, 1950. p. 1.
14. "Nurse Slayer Goes To Death In Chair Ending Long Fight". The Evening Independent. March 10, 1950. p. 1.
15. "Former Taxi Driver Dies in Electric Chair". St. Petersburg Times. March 19, 1950. p. 34.
16. "People v. Letourneau". Justia Law.
17. "State v. Tansimore". Justia Law.
18. "LaMoore v. United States". Justia Law.
19. "Wyatt v. State". vLex.
20. "State Writes "Paid in Full" for Murderers". The Daily Calumet via newspapers.com. April 21, 1950. p. 1.
21. "State v. Miller". Justia Law.
22. "Execution Of Man Halted By 11th-Hour Edict". Painesville Telegraph. March 11, 1950. p. 1.
23. "State v. Tiedt". Justia Law.
24. "Negro Executed at Vicksburg Jail". Sun Herald via newspapers.com. May 25, 1950. p. 1.
25. "People v. Huizenga". Justia Law.
26. "Tillman v. State". Justia Law.
27. "Attacker Is Electrocuted". St. Joseph News-Press. June 9, 1950. p. 1.
28. "Webb v. Commonwealth". vLex.
29. "Sisters Visit Convict Before Execution". Fort Worth Star-Telegram via newspapers.com. June 21, 1950. p. 4.
30. "White v. State". Justia Law.
31. "Man Slated To Die In Electric Chair". Herald-Journal. June 30, 1950. p. 3.
32. "Negro Given Death Sentence In Rape Case". The Victoria Advocate. March 8, 1950. p. 7.
33. "Shaffer v. State". vLex.
34. "Keith v. State". Justia Law.
35. "Odom v. State". Justia Law.
36. "Sims v. State". Justia Law.
37. "Shackelford Dies After Hymn Fest". Star-News. July 22, 1950. p. 6.
38. "Plea To Lausche Fails; Slayer To Die Tonight". Toledo Blade. July 21, 1950. p. 25.
39. "Board Refuses Execution Stay For Rocky Serna". Prescott Evening Courier. July 27, 1950. p. 3.
40. "People v. Hooper". Stanford Law School.
41. "Three Men Electrocuted". Lawrence Journal-World. August 19, 1950. p. 2.
42. "State v. Williams". Justia Law.
43. "Yankey To Die Tonight For 1947 Slaying". The Portsmouth Times. September 12, 1950. p. 11.
44. "Commonwealth v. Maloney". Justia Law.
45. "People v. Avery". Stanford Law School.
46. "People v. Guldbrandsen". Stanford Law School.
47. "Richardson v. State". CaseMine.
48. "Wilson Man Held In Wife's Death". Rocky Mount Telegram via newspapers.com. February 28, 1950. p. 2.
49. "Truck Driver Dies Of Gunshot Wounds". Herald-Journal. March 21, 1950. p. 4.
50. "People v. Gutierrez". Stanford Law School.
51. "State v. Sanford". CaseMine.
52. "Killer Electrocuted In Richmond Today". The Free Lance-Star. December 8, 1950. p. 4.
53. "Slayer Will Pay Death Penalty In Strange Case". The Bulletin. December 29, 1950. p. 3.

Preceded by 1949

List of people executed       in the United States in    1950

Succeeded by 1951