List of people executed in the United States in 1953

Sixty-three people, sixty male and three female, were executed in the United States in 1953, thirty-nine by electrocution, twenty-one by gas chamber, and three by hanging. ^[1]

List of people executed in the United States in 1953

No.	Date of execution	Name	Age of person			Gender	Ethnicity	State	Method	Ref.
			At execution	At offense	Age difference
1	January 3, 1953	Turman Galilee Wilson	26	23	3	Male	White	Washington	Hanging	[2]
2		Utah Eugene Wilson	22	20	2
3	January 9, 1953	Morris Leland	26	22	4			Oregon	Gas chamber	[3]
4		Frank Oliver Payne	50	48	2					[1]
5	January 15, 1953	Joseph L. Paonessa	42	39	3			New York	Electrocution
6	January 16, 1953	George F. Ross	28	27	1			Ohio
7	January 22, 1953	Stephen DeFoe Lewis	43	42				New York
8	January 23, 1953	Louis Allen Angel	19	18				Ohio
9	January 30, 1953	Albert William Karnes	24	24	0			Oregon	Gas chamber
10	February 2, 1953	Robert Gene Dessauer	30	28	2			California		[4]
11	February 4, 1953	Darious Daniel Goleman	31	27	4			Texas	Electrocution	[5]
12	February 6, 1953	Roy Jack Hulen	43	41	2					[1]
13	February 20, 1953	Leandress Riley	32	29	3		Black	California	Gas chamber	[6]
14		Marvin Lucear	38	36	2			Ohio	Electrocution	[1]
15	February 27, 1953	Abraham Pinkney	67	66	1			Georgia
16		Roosevelt Spears	48	44	4			Kentucky
17	March 19, 1953	Emanuel Scott Jr.	28	25	3			Illinois
18	March 20, 1953	Albert C. Allen	25	22				District of Columbia		[7]
19	March 21, 1953	Samuel James Gasway	35	33	2		White	Texas		[8]
20	March 30, 1953	Dominick Daverse	40	34	6			Pennsylvania		[9]
21		Joseph Stephenson Phillips	23	22	1		Black
22	April 10, 1953	John Solomon	47	45	2			Louisiana		[10]
23	April 13, 1953	Clayton Octave Fouquette	39	34	5		White	Nevada	Gas chamber	[1]
24	April 16, 1953	Jesse Starr	26	24	2		Black	Georgia	Electrocution	[11]
25		Frank Wojcik	56	54			White	New York		[1]
26	April 17, 1953	Diamond Reed	34	32			Black	California	Gas chamber	[12]
27		Oshel Gardner Jr.	23	22	1		White	West Virginia	Electrocution	[13]
28	May 1, 1953	Lafayette Miller	22	20	2		Black	North Carolina	Gas chamber	[14]
29	May 8, 1953	Amos Patrick	34	33	1			Georgia	Electrocution	[1]
30	May 15, 1953	Lovell Barclay	37	36				California	Gas chamber	[15]
31	May 18, 1953	Ollie Melvern Carey	44	40	4		White	Pennsylvania	Electrocution	[16]
32		Charles Edward Homeyer	55	52	3					[17]
33	May 22, 1953	Dario E. Amaya	21	20	1		Hispanic	California	Gas chamber	[18]
34	May 29, 1953	Ulas Quilling	52	50	2		Black	Missouri		[19]
35		Raleigh Speller	52	46	6			North Carolina		[20]
36		Clyde Brown	20	17	3					[20]
37	June 10, 1953	Jack Farmer	53	51	2		White	Texas	Electrocution	[21]
38	June 19, 1953	Julius Rosenberg	35	32	3			Federal government		[22]
39		Ethel Rosenberg	37	34		Female
40	July 6, 1953	Jimmie Lee Brown	30	28	2	Male	Black	Florida		[1]
41	July 10, 1953	Kenneth Boyd	23	20	3			Missouri	Gas chamber
42		Robert Gemmell	29	28	1		White	Ohio	Electrocution	[23]
43	July 16, 1953	Donald Hugh Snyder	25	24				New York		[1]
44	July 23, 1953	William H. Draper	34	30	4					[24]
45	August 14, 1953	Eddie Jackson	48	46	2		Black	Louisiana		[1]
46	August 24, 1953	Robert Remer Strickland	22	20			White	Georgia		[25]
47	August 25, 1953	Lott Glover	31	30	1		Black	Maryland	Hanging	[26]
48	August 28, 1953	Reuben Myhand	20	19				Alabama	Electrocution	[27]
49		Samuel Bowens	23	Unknown	Unknown			Georgia		[28]
50	September 4, 1953	Earle Dennison	56	55	1	Female	White	Alabama		[29]
51	September 7, 1953	Ed Brooks	61	60		Male	Black	Florida		[30]
52	October 7, 1953	Louis Allison	23	20	3			Texas		[1]
53	October 16, 1953	Lloyd Gomez	29	26			Hispanic	California	Gas chamber	[31]
54	October 23, 1953	Johnnie D. Harrison	51	50	1		Black			[32]
55	October 30, 1953	John Chauncey Lawrence	38	37			White			[1]
56	November 6, 1953	Lloyd Ray Daniels	22	17	5		Black	North Carolina		[33]
57		Bennie Daniels	21		4
58	November 14, 1953	Willie Burgess	56	Unknown	Unknown			Georgia	Electrocution	[1]
59	November 17, 1953	Carl Austin DeWolf	37	30	7		White	Oklahoma		[34]
60	December 18, 1953	Robert Calhoun	30	29	1		Black	Georgia		[35]
61		Carl Austin Hall	34	34	0		White	Federal government	Gas chamber	[36]
62		Bonnie Emily Heady	41	41		Female
63	December 23, 1953	Isaiah Harris	33	33		Male	Black	Georgia	Electrocution	[37]

Demographics

Gender
Male	60	95%
Female	3	5%
Ethnicity
White	31	49%
Black	30	48%
Hispanic	2	3%
State
California	8	13%
Georgia	8	13%
New York	5	8%
North Carolina	5	8%
Texas	5	8%
Federal government	4	6%
Ohio	4	6%
Pennsylvania	4	6%
Oregon	3	5%
Alabama	2	3%
Florida	2	3%
Louisiana	2	3%
Missouri	2	3%
Washington	2	3%
District of Columbia	1	2%
Illinois	1	2%
Kentucky	1	2%
Maryland	1	2%
Nevada	1	2%
Oklahoma	1	2%
West Virginia	1	2%
Method
Electrocution	39	62%
Gas chamber	21	33%
Hanging	3	5%
Month
January	9	14%
February	7	11%
March	5	8%
April	6	10%
May	9	14%
June	3	5%
July	5	8%
August	5	8%
September	2	3%
October	4	6%
November	4	6%
December	4	6%
Age
10–19	1	2%
20–29	23	37%
30–39	19	30%
40–49	9	14%
50–59	9	14%
60–69	2	3%
Total	63	100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1954	83
1953	63
1952	81
Total	227

References

1. "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved June 28, 2025.
2. "Hoax Wire Fails to Halt Execution". The News Tribune via newspapers.com. January 5, 1953. p. 1.
3. "State v. Leland". Justia Law.
4. "People v. Dessauer". Justia Law.
5. "Killer, Unafraid, Dies At Huntsville". Longview News-Journal via newspapers.com. February 4, 1953. p. 1.
6. "People v. Riley". FindLaw.
7. "Allen v. United States". Justia Law.
8. "Gasway Executed". Pampa Daily News via newspapers.com. March 22, 1953. p. 18.
9. "Two Convicted Killers Electrocuted At Rockview". Standard-Speaker via newspapers.com. March 30, 1953. p. 1.
10. "State v. Solomon". Justia Law.
11. "Starr v. State". CaseMine.
12. "People v. Reed". Justia Law.
13. "Electrocution Ends Life of Cabbie Slayer". Williamson Daily News. April 18, 1953. p. 3.
14. "People v. Reed". CaseMine.
15. "People v. Barclay". FindLaw.
16. "Officer Thomas Mathews Remembered". Abington Township Police Department.
17. "Commonwealth v. Homeyer". Justia Law.
18. "People v. Amaya". Stanford Law School.
19. "State v. Quilling". Justia Law.
20. "2 Men in N.C. Die In Gas Chamber". The Afro American. June 6, 1953. p. 1.
21. "Execution Date Set For Farmer". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via newspapers.com. April 4, 1953. p. 13.
22. "Execution of the Rosenbergs". The Guardian. June 20, 1953.
23. "Gemmel Dies In Chair For Murder". Marysville Journal-Tribune via newspapers.com. July 11, 1953. p. 1.
24. "Draper Execution Scheduled for July". Democrat and Chronicle via newspapers.com. June 3, 1953. p. 17.
25. "Strickland v. State". Justia Law.
26. "Lott Glover hanged for hold-up Slaying". The Baltimore African-American. August 29, 1953. p. 3.
27. "Myhand v. State". Justia Law.
28. "Husband dies in Ga. chair". The Afro American. September 5, 1953. p. 7.
29. "Dennison v. State". Justia Law.
30. "Negro Slayer Executed". St. Petersburg Times. September 8, 1953. p. 13.
31. "People v. Gomez". Stanford Law School.
32. "People v. Harrison". Stanford Law School.
33. "State v. Daniels". Justia Law.
34. "DeWolf v. State". Justia Law.
35. "Calhoun v. State". Justia Law.
36. "2 KIDNAP-SLAYERS DIE IN GAS CHAMBER; Hall and Mrs. Heady Executed 81 Days After the Killing of Greenlease Boy". The New York Times. December 18, 1953.
37. "Harris Found Guilty; To Get Chair Dec. 23". Waycross Journal-Herald. December 2, 1953. p. 1.

Preceded by 1952

List of people executed       in the United States in    1953

Succeeded by 1954