List of people executed in the United States in 1961

Forty-three people, all male, were executed in the United States in 1961, twenty-four by electrocution, eighteen by gas chamber, and one by hanging. ^[1]

Billy Monk became the last person to be executed in the United States for a kidnapping that did not result in the victim's death. Monk raped and stabbed his victim, but did not kill her. While Victor Feguer is listed as being executed for kidnapping, he also murdered his victim.

The United States military would conduct its most recent execution this year, that of John A. Bennett. Bennett was also the last person to be executed by the military for rape, and the only person to be executed by the military for the crime of rape in peacetime.

List of people executed in the United States in 1961

No.	Date of execution	Name	Age of person			Gender	Ethnicity	State	Method	Ref.
			At execution	At offense	Age difference
1	January 5, 1961	Ralph Downs	28	26	2	Male	Black	New York	Electrocution	[1]
2	January 20, 1961	Roy Lee Mullins	24	23	1		White	Georgia		[2]
3	February 17, 1961	Linwood Bunch	22	20	2		Black	Virginia		[1]
4	March 10, 1961	Grover Earl Lucas	51	48	3		White			[3]
5	March 17, 1961	H.B. Penelton	30	28	2		Black	Ohio		[1]
6	March 24, 1961	Thurmond Johnson	26	Unknown	Unknown			Georgia		[1]
7	April 13, 1961	John Arthur Bennett	25	18	7			U.S. military	Hanging	[4]
8	April 21, 1961	William Stokes	27	26	1			Mississippi	Gas chamber	[5]
9	April 26, 1961	Alexander P. Robillard XIV	20	19			White	California		[6]
10	April 28, 1961	Quincy Bullock	48	45	3		Black	South Carolina	Electrocution	[7]
11	May 26, 1961	Charlie Robinson	28	26	2					[8]
12	May 31, 1961	Robert Lee Goldsby	35	28	7			Mississippi	Gas chamber	[9]
13	June 3, 1961	Charles Elbert Williams	20	19	1			Texas	Electrocution	[10]
14	June 8, 1961	Woodrow Miller	33	29	4			New York		[1]
15	June 9, 1961	Jessie James Ferguson	39	37	2			Louisiana		[11]
16		Nathaniel Lipscomb	32	29	3			Maryland	Gas chamber	[12]
17	June 15, 1961	Richard Edward Kiefer	40	35	5		White	Indiana	Electrocution	[13]
18	June 19, 1961	William Otis Britt	27	24	3			South Carolina		[14]
19		Douglas Westbury	31	28						[14]
20	June 23, 1961	James Edwards	30	28	2		Black	Texas		[15]
21	June 29, 1961	Ronald Rittger	25	23			White	California	Gas chamber	[16]
22	July 12, 1961	Marion James Linden	47	43	4					[17]
23	July 14, 1961	J.W. Simmons	27	26	1		Black	Mississippi		[18]
24		Walter James Outen	31	29	2			South Carolina	Electrocution	[19]
25	August 7, 1961	Norman J. Mackiewicz	35	32	3		White	Florida		[20]
26		Robert Wesley Davis	28	26	2					[20]
27	August 11, 1961	David Francis Early	32	29	3			Colorado	Gas chamber	[1]
28		George Watt	21	Unknown	Unknown		Black	Georgia	Electrocution	[1]
29	August 23, 1961	Thayne H. Archibald	22	20	2		White	Nevada	Gas chamber	[21]
30	October 18, 1961	David Allan Combes	32	31	1			California		[22]
31	October 23, 1961	Arthur Grover Schuck	45	41	4			Pennsylvania	Electrocution	[23]
32	October 27, 1961	Theodore Harson Boykin	32	31	1		Black	North Carolina	Gas chamber	[24]
33	October 31, 1961	Honor Robinson	44	42	2			Arizona		[25]
34	November 3, 1961	James Kendrick	31	29			White	California		[26]
35	November 9, 1961	Fred Thomas Leath	40	38				Texas	Electrocution	[27]
36	November 17, 1961	Claude Leon Hart Jr.	31	31	0			Virginia		[1]
37	November 21, 1961	Richard Arlen Lindsey		30	1			California	Gas chamber	[28]
38		Billy Wesley Monk	26	24	2					[29]
39	November 24, 1961	Joe Henry Johnson	19	17			Black	Alabama	Electrocution	[30]
40	November 29, 1961	Jose Angel Gonzalez	27	26	1		Hispanic	California	Gas chamber	[31]
41	December 8, 1961	Jim Cobbs	46	Unknown	Unknown		Black	Virginia	Electrocution	[1]
42	December 19, 1961	Howard Cook	33	32	1			Mississippi	Gas chamber	[32]
43	December 20, 1961	Ellic Lee	31	30						[32]

Demographics

Gender
Male	43	100%
Female	0	0%
Ethnicity
Black	23	53%
White	19	44%
Hispanic	1	2%
State
California	8	19%
Mississippi	5	12%
South Carolina	5	12%
Virginia	4	9%
Georgia	3	7%
Texas	3	7%
Florida	2	5%
New York	2	5%
Alabama	1	2%
Arizona	1	2%
Colorado	1	2%
Indiana	1	2%
Louisiana	1	2%
Maryland	1	2%
Nevada	1	2%
North Carolina	1	2%
Ohio	1	2%
Pennsylvania	1	2%
U.S. military	1	2%
Method
Electrocution	24	56%
Gas chamber	18	42%
Hanging	1	2%
Month
January	2	5%
February	1	2%
March	3	7%
April	4	9%
May	2	5%
June	9	21%
July	3	7%
August	5	12%
September	0	0%
October	4	9%
November	7	16%
December	3	7%
Age
10–19	1	2%
20–29	17	40%
30–39	17	40%
40–49	7	16%
50–59	1	2%
Total	43	100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1962	47
1961	43
1960	56
Total	146

References

1. "Executions in the U.S. 1608–2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved June 18, 2025.
2. "Convicted Killer Roy Lee Mullins To Get Sanity Test". The Macon News via newspapers.com. November 4, 1960. p. 18.
3. "Lucas v. Commonwealth". Justia Law.
4. "A look at the last U.S. soldier executed by the military". CNN. July 28, 2013.
5. "Stokes v. State". Justia Law.
6. "People v. Robillard". vLex.
7. "There's no dignity in electric chair". The Herald via newspapers.com. April 29, 1961. p. 3.
8. "State v. Robinson". Justia Law.
9. "Goldsby v. State". Justia Law.
10. "Williams v. State". Justia Law.
11. "State v. Ferguson". Justia Law.
12. "1961: puff of smoke and a killer died". The Baltimore Sun. September 28, 1993.
13. "Kiefer v. State". vLex.
14. "Stays of Execution Denied Otis Britt, Douglas Westbury". The State via newspapers.com. June 17, 1961. p. 13.
15. "Convicted Rapist Dies In Chair". The Daily News-Texan via newspapers.com. June 23, 1961. p. 3.
16. "People v. Rittger". Justia Law.
17. "Marion James Linden, Appellant, v. Fred R. Dickson, Warden, California State Prison, San Quentin, Appellee, 287 F.2d 55 (9th Cir. 1961)". Justia Law.
18. "Simmons v. State". Justia Law.
19. "State v. Outen". Justia Law.
20. "A Double Death At Dawn". Tampa Bay Times via newspapers.com. August 8, 1961. p. 1.
21. "Archibald v. State". Justia Law.
22. "People v. Combes". Stanford Law School.
23. "Arthur Schuck Electrocuted For 1958 Ambush Murder". The Evening Sun via newspapers.com. October 24, 1961. p. 9.
24. "State v. Boykin". Justia Law.
25. "State v. Robinson". Justia Law.
26. "People v. Kendrick". Stanford Law School.
27. "Leath v. State". Justia Law.
28. "People v. Lindsey". Stanford Law School.
29. "People v. Monk". Stanford Law School.
30. "Johnson v. State". Justia Law.
31. "People v. Gonzalez". Justia Law.
32. "Lee v. State". CaseMine.

Preceded by 1960

List of people executed       in the United States in    1961

Succeeded by 1962