List of people executed in the United States in 1962

Forty-seven people, forty-six male and one female, were executed in the United States in 1962, twenty-nine by electrocution, fifteen by gas chamber, and three by hanging. ^[1]

The state of Iowa would conduct their final executions before abolishing capital punishment in 1965. New Jersey would carry out its last involuntary execution, with the last overall occurring the following year. Elizabeth Ann Duncan was the last woman executed before the ruling of Furman v. Georgia , and would be the last woman executed in the United States until 1984. Herbert Bradley was the last person to be executed for a robbery where the victim did not die. The victim was left permanently crippled from the waist down after being shot six times and beaten with a hammer, but did not die.

List of people executed in the United States in 1962

No.	Date of execution	Name	Age of person			Gender	Ethnicity	State	Method	Ref.
			At execution	At offense	Age difference
1	January 10, 1962	Charles Louis Forgey	23	21	2	Male	White	Texas	Electrocution	[2]
2	January 11, 1962	Rudolph Wright	31	29			Black	California	Gas chamber	[3]
3		Roosevelt Wiley	29	26	3			Texas	Electrocution	[4]
4	January 17, 1962	Elbert Lyndon Carter	24	23	1			California	Gas chamber	[5]
5	January 29, 1962	Frank McCoy	36	31	5		White	Pennsylvania	Electrocution	[6]
6	March 2, 1962	James Kelley Moss	48	44	4			Kentucky		[7]
7		Carroll Lewis Garland	26	26	0		Black	Virginia		[1]
8	March 7, 1962	Henry Ray Lane Jr.	24	22	2		White	California	Gas chamber	[8]
9	March 9, 1962	Harold David Wooley	37	35				Colorado		[9]
10	March 20, 1962	Donald Ray Wilson	22	20				Texas	Electrocution	[1]
11	March 23, 1962	Vincent Ciucci	35	27	8			Illinois		[10]
12	April 2, 1962	Elmo Lee Smith	41	38	3			Pennsylvania		[11]
13	April 18, 1962	Robert Green Hughes	27	25	2		Black	California	Gas chamber	[12]
14	April 19, 1962	Adrian Lee Johnson	19	17				Texas	Electrocution	[13]
15	April 20, 1962	Douglas Clee Thorne	27	24	3		White	South Carolina		[14]
16		Ray Landy Young	29	26			Black			[15]
17	May 11, 1962	Willie Wilson	22	21	1			Mississippi	Gas chamber	[16]
18	May 12, 1962	Robert Lee Jefferson	23	21	2			Florida	Electrocution	[17]
19		Johnnie Hill	28	26						[1]
20	May 16, 1962	Herbert Lemuel Bradley Sr.	20	19	1			Texas		[18]
21	May 23, 1962	Howard Bartlett Stickney	24	20	4		White			[19]
22	May 25, 1962	Walter Joseph Hammill	31	27				Colorado	Gas chamber	[20]
23	June 1, 1962	Ronald George Fenton	29		2			Ohio	Electrocution	[1]
24	June 6, 1962	Henry Adolph Busch	30	28				California	Gas chamber	[21]
25	June 22, 1962	James Rodney Buck	24	22				Ohio	Electrocution	[1]
26	July 3, 1962	Fred T. Sturdivant	27		5		Black	New Jersey		[22]
27	July 18, 1962	Walter Henry Mosley	26	24	2		White	Texas		[23]
28	July 24, 1962	Charles Noel Brown	29	27				Iowa	Hanging	[24]
29	July 31, 1962	Joseph Roland Ernst Jr.	25	22	3			New Jersey	Electrocution	[25]
30	August 8, 1962	Elizabeth Ann Duncan	58	54	4	Female		California	Gas chamber	[26]
31		Augustine Baldonado	28	25	3	Male	Hispanic			[26]
32		Luis Estrada Moya	23	20						[26]
33	August 20, 1962	Leroy Sanford McGahuey	41	40	1		White	Oregon		[27]
34	August 24, 1962	James Dukes	37	31	6		Black	Illinois	Electrocution	[28]
35	August 31, 1962	Wilmon Gosa Sr.	42	39	3			Alabama		[29]
36	September 4, 1962	Lawrence Christopher Garner	30	27			White	California	Gas chamber	[30]
37	September 5, 1962	Bobby Louis Stein	29		2		Black	Texas	Electrocution	[1]
38	September 6, 1962	Samuel Johnson	42	39	3			Florida		[31]
39		Charles Edwin Kelley	21	20	1		White	Iowa	Hanging	[24]
40	September 24, 1962	William Earl Leach	24	21	3			Florida	Electrocution	[32]
41		Joe Smith	25	22						[32]
42	October 1, 1962	Melvin Thomas Darling	29	28	1			California	Gas chamber	[33]
43		Shelby Leon Doggett	25	23	2			Oklahoma	Electrocution	[34]
44	October 6, 1962	Roscoe Gibson	36	34			Black	Texas		[35]
45	November 14, 1962	Sammie Lee Smith	27	25				Georgia		[36]
46	November 21, 1962	Allen Ditson	42	39	3		White	California	Gas chamber	[37]
47	November 30, 1962	Lowell Lee Andrews	22	18	4			Kansas	Hanging	[38]

Demographics

Gender
Male	46	98%
Female	1	2%
Ethnicity
White	27	57%
Black	18	38%
Hispanic	2	4%
State
California	11	23%
Texas	9	19%
Florida	5	11%
Colorado	2	4%
Illinois	2	4%
Iowa	2	4%
New Jersey	2	4%
Ohio	2	4%
Pennsylvania	2	4%
South Carolina	2	4%
Alabama	1	2%
Georgia	1	2%
Kansas	1	2%
Kentucky	1	2%
Mississippi	1	2%
Oklahoma	1	2%
Oregon	1	2%
Virginia	1	2%
Method
Electrocution	29	62%
Gas chamber	15	32%
Hanging	3	6%
Month
January	5	11%
February	0	0%
March	6	13%
April	5	11%
May	6	13%
June	3	6%
July	4	9%
August	6	13%
September	6	13%
October	3	6%
November	3	6%
December	0	0%
Age
10–19	1	2%
20–29	30	64%
30–39	9	19%
40–49	6	13%
50–59	1	2%
Total	47	100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1963	21
1962	47
1961	43
Total	111

References

1. "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved June 17, 2025.
2. "Rapist Weeps At Execution At Huntsville". Corpus Christi Caller-Times via newspapers.com. January 10, 1962. p. 8.
3. "People v. Wright". Stanford Law School.
4. "Wiley v. State". Justia Law.
5. "People v. Carter". Stanford Law School.
6. "Frank McCoy Will Die Tonight For Murder of Philadelphian". Standard-Speaker via newspapers.com. January 29, 1962. p. 18.
7. "Moss execution was last in Kentucky for 35 years". Courier & Press. February 25, 2012.
8. "People v. Lane". FindLaw.
9. "Wooley v. People". Justia Law.
10. "Girl, On Stand at Trial, Tells Love for Ciucci". Chicago Tribune via M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives. July 27, 1954.
11. "Commonwealth v. Smith". Justia Law.
12. "People v. Hughes". Justia Law.
13. "The Icebox Revisited". Dallas Observer. March 11, 2004.
14. "State v. Thorne". Justia Law.
15. "State v. Young". Justia Law.
16. "Wilson v. State". Justia Law.
17. "Jefferson v. State". Justia Law.
18. "Herbert Lemuel Bradley v. State". AnyLaw.
19. "Stickney v. State". Justia Law.
20. "Judge Denies Hammill Try to Escape Death". The Rocky Mountain News via Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. January 18, 1962. p. 62.
21. "In re Busch". Justia Law.
22. "Fred Sturdivant Executed for Step-Daughter's Death". The Daily Record via newspapers.com. July 5, 1962. p. 6.
23. "Mosley v. State". Justia Law.
24. "State v. Kelley". Justia Law.
25. "Ernst Executed For Killing Girl". Courier-Post via newspapers.com. August 1, 1962. p. 1.
26. "Ernst Executed For Killing Girl". UPI. November 1, 1984.
27. "Oregon Executes Killer Of Child". The Olympian via newspapers.com. August 20, 1962. p. 1.
28. "28 YEARS AGO, A KILLER PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE". Chicago Tribune. September 11, 1990.
29. "Gosa v. State". Justia Law.
30. "State Executes Desert Slayer at San Quentin". The Bakersfield Californian via newspapers.com. September 4, 1962. p. 24.
31. "Johnson v. State". Justia Law.
32. "Leach v. State". Justia Law.
33. "Melvin Darling Put To Death At San Quentin Gas Chamber". Daily Independent Journal via newspapers.com. October 1, 1962. p. 5.
34. "Doggett v. State". Justia Law.
35. "Summary of the execution of Roscoe Gibson". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
36. "Smith v. State". Justia Law.
37. "People v. Ditson". Stanford Law School.
38. "Andrews Casual To End". The Iola Register via newspapers.com. November 30, 1962. p. 1.

Preceded by 1961

List of people executed       in the United States in    1962

Succeeded by 1963