List of people executed in the United States in 2017

Last updated

Twenty-three people, all male, were executed in the United States in 2017, all by lethal injection. The state of Arkansas executed four people in April, ending a hiatus on executions in the state which had lasted for over 11 years. Virginia conducted its final two executions in 2017, with the state having since abolished capital punishment in 2021. [1]

Contents

List of people executed in the United States in 2017

No.Date of executionNameAge of personGenderEthnicityStateMethodRef.
At executionAt offenseAge difference
1January 11, 2017 Christopher Chubasco Wilkins 483711MaleWhite Texas Lethal injection [2] [3]
2January 18, 2017 Ricky Javon Gray 3928Black Virginia [4]
3January 26, 2017Terry Darnell Edwards4315Texas [5] [6]
4January 31, 2017Mark Anthony Christeson371819White Missouri [7]
5March 7, 2017 Rolando Ruiz Jr. 442024HispanicTexas [8] [9]
6March 14, 2017 James Eugene Bigby 613229White [10] [11]
7April 20, 2017 Ledell T. Lee 512724Black Arkansas [12]
8April 24, 2017 Jack Harold Jones Jr. 523022White [13] [14]
9 Marcel Wayne Williams 4624Black
10April 27, 2017 Kenneth Dewayne Williams 382018 [15]
11May 17, 2017John W. Ledford III4525White Georgia [16]
12May 26, 2017Thomas Douglas "Tommy" Arthur754035 Alabama [17]
13June 8, 2017 Robert Bryant Melson 462224Black [18]
14July 6, 2017 William Charles Morva 352411WhiteVirginia [19]
15July 26, 2017 Ronald Ray Phillips 431924 Ohio [20]
16July 27, 2017Taichin Preyor463313BlackTexas [21] [22]
17August 24, 2017 Mark James Asay 532330White Florida [23]
18September 13, 2017 Gary Wayne Otte 452025Ohio [24]
19October 5, 2017Michael Ray Lambrix572235Florida [25]
20October 12, 2017 Robert Lynn Pruett 382018Texas [26]
21October 19, 2017Torrey Twane McNabb4020BlackAlabama [27]
22November 8, 2017Patrick Charles Hannon532627WhiteFlorida [28]
23Ruben Cardenas Ramirez4721HispanicTexas [29] [30]
Average:47 years25 years22 years

Demographics

Gender
Male23100%
Female00%
Ethnicity
White1356%
Black835%
Hispanic29%
State
Texas 730%
Arkansas 417%
Alabama 313%
Florida 313%
Ohio 29%
Virginia 29%
Georgia 14%
Missouri 14%
Method
Lethal injection 23100%
Month
January417%
February00%
March29%
April417%
May29%
June14%
July313%
August14%
September14%
October313%
November29%
December00%
Age
30–39522%
40–491148%
50–59522%
60–6914%
70–7914%
Total23100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
2018 25
201723
2016 20
Total68

Double execution in Arkansas

On April 24, 2017, Arkansas carried out back-to-back executions. Convicted rapist and murderer Jack Harold Jones, age 52, was pronounced dead at 7:20 pm Monday. Approximately three hours later, convicted rapist and murderer Marcel Williams, age 46, was pronounced dead at 10:33 pm. Jones was sentenced to death for the 1995 rape and murder of Mary Phillips (August 18, 1959 – June 6, 1995) and the near-fatal assault of her then-10-year-old daughter, Lacy Phillips (born July 9, 1984), during a botched robbery in Bald Knob, Arkansas. Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and murder of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.

The last double execution in Arkansas was on September 8, 1999. [31] By conducting the double execution in 2017, Arkansas became the first U.S. state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day in 17 years. The last state to do so was Texas, which executed two murderers in August 2000. Oklahoma planned a double execution in 2014 but scrapped plans for the second one after the first (the execution of Clayton Lockett) went awry. [32]

Arkansas executed four men in an eight-day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930. [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arkansas.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Oklahoma.

A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brownstone Lane murders</span> 1992 mass murder case in Houston, Texas

The Brownstone Lane murders were the mass murders of four people at a residence on Brownstone Lane in Houston, Texas. On June 20, 1992, three men tied up six people and shot all of them in the head execution-style. Four of the six victims died. The perpetrators: Marion Butler Dudley, Arthur "Squirt" Brown Jr., and Antonia "Tony" Lamone Dunson were convicted of capital murder. Dudley and Brown were sentenced to death, while Dunson was sentenced to life in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genaro Ruiz Camacho</span>

Genaro Ruiz Camacho Jr., aka Geno Camacho, was a cannabis dealer and organized crime leader in Texas who was linked to four murders and eventually executed by the state of Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison</span> Mens prison in Georgia, United States

Opened in 1969, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison (GDCP) is a Georgia Department of Corrections prison for men in unincorporated Butts County, Georgia, near Jackson. The prison holds the state execution chamber. The execution equipment was moved to the prison in June 1980, with the first execution in the facility occurring on December 15, 1983. The prison houses the male death row, while female death row inmates reside in Arrendale State Prison.

James Emery Paster and Stephen Albert McCoy were American serial killers who murdered at least three people in Texas between 1980 and 1981. Both were sentenced to death and executed at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, via lethal injection. Prior to Emery's execution, he confessed to two other murders in the Houston area, but he was never tried for either of these killings. McCoy was executed in May 1989, in what was considered a botched execution. Emery was executed in September 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramon Torres Hernandez</span> Executed American serial killer

Ramon Torres Hernandez was an American serial killer, kidnapper and rapist responsible for at least three murders in Bexar County, Texas from 1994 to 2001, and is a prime suspect in two others. Following his arrest, he admitted to the killings, was sentenced to death and ultimately executed in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Layla Cummings</span> 1984 kidnapping, rape, and murder of a girl in Elk City, Oklahoma

On July 6, 1984, in Elk City, Oklahoma, 7-year-old Layla Cummings was abducted, raped, and murdered by Richard Norman Rojem Jr., who was previously convicted and jailed for sex offenses. Rojem, who was formerly married to Cummings's mother before their divorce, was convicted of murdering Cummings and sentenced to death in 1985. Rojem, who failed in multiple attempts to overturn his death sentence, was incarcerated on death row for close to 40 years before he was executed via lethal injection on June 27, 2024, after the state parole board rejected his appeal for clemency.

On March 6, 1998, 68-year-old contract courier William Clinton Clayton Jr. was shot to death by an unknown person while he was taking money out of an ATM in downtown Centre, Alabama. The killer was later identified as Keith Edmund Gavin, a resident of Chicago who was out on parole after serving 16 years of a 34-year jail term for a 1982 murder case in his native state of Illinois. Gavin was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death in 1999, and he was incarcerated on death row for about 25 years before he was executed via lethal injection on July 18, 2024.

References

  1. ↑ "Execution List 2017". Death Penalty Information Center . Retrieved October 17, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Inmate Information – Christopher Wilkins", Texas Department of Criminal Justice
  3. ↑ McCann, Erin (January 12, 2017). "Texas Carries Out Nation's First Execution of 2017". The New York Times . Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  4. ↑ Ansari, Azadeh; Marco, Tony (January 19, 2017). "Virginia executes convicted family killer Ricky Gray". CNN . Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Inmate Information – Terry Edwards", Texas Department of Criminal Justice
  6. ↑ Dart, Tom (January 27, 2017). "Texas prisoner dies of lethal injection after last-minute appeal fails". The Guardian . Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Missouri man executed for 1998 murder of mother, 2 children". CBS News . January 31, 2017. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Inmate Information – Rolando Ruiz Jr.", Texas Department of Criminal Justice
  9. ↑ "Remorseful hit man in Texas murder-for-hire slaying executed". CBS News . March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Inmate Information – James Bigby", Texas Department of Criminal Justice
  11. ↑ Chiquillo, Julieta (March 14, 2017). "Tarrant County man who killed father and baby in 1987, pointed gun at judge is executed". The Dallas Morning News . Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  12. ↑ Blinder, Alan; Fernandez, Manny (April 21, 2017). "Arkansas Puts Ledell Lee to Death, in Its First Execution Since 2005". The New York Times . Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Arkansas executes murderers Jack Jones and Marcel Williams". BBC News . April 25, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  14. ↑ Pilkington, Ed; Lartey, Jamiles; Rosenberg, Jacob (April 25, 2017). "Arkansas carries out first double execution in the US for 16 years". The Guardian . Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  15. ↑ Pilkington, Ed; Rosenberg, Jacob (April 28, 2017). "Fourth and final Arkansas inmate Kenneth Williams executed". The Guardian . Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  16. ↑ Sharman, Jon (May 18, 2017). "Death row inmate eats 5,500-calorie final meal featuring filet mignon steak wrapped in bacon and fried pork chops". The Independent . Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  17. ↑ Connor, Tracy (May 25, 2017). "Tommy Arthur, Inmate Who Escaped Death 7 Times, Is Executed". NBC News . Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  18. ↑ Hrynkiw, Ivanaki (June 8, 2017). "Robert Bryant Melson executed for 1994 triple slaying". The Birmingham News . Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  19. ↑ Freeman, Jr., Vernon; Burkett, Jon (July 6, 2017). "William Morva executed by lethal injection for 2006 killings". WTVR-TV . Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  20. ↑ Connor, Tracy (July 26, 2017). "Ronald Phillips Executed in Ohio, Ending Three-Year Break". NBC News . Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Inmate Information - Taichin Preyor". Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Texas executes man who killed woman at her apartment in 2004". CBS News . July 27, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  23. ↑ Burch, Audra D.S. (August 24, 2017). "For First Time Since 1970s, White Man Executed for Racial Killings in Florida". The New York Times . Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  24. ↑ Connor, Tracy (September 13, 2017). "Ohio Executes Double Murderer Gary Otte as He Sings Hymn". NBC News . Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  25. ↑ Dearen, Jason (October 6, 2017). "Florida executes man convicted of killing 2 decades ago". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved October 6, 2017.
  26. ↑ Schmidt, Samantha (October 13, 2017). "Texas executes inmate convicted of fatally stabbing a prison guard". The Washington Post . Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  27. ↑ Lyman, Brian (October 19, 2017). "Torrey McNabb's final words for Alabama before execution: 'I hate you'". Montgomery Advertiser . Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Florida executes Patrick Hannon for killing two men in 1991". Fox News . November 8, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  29. ↑ "The Latest: Texas executes Mexican citizen for 1997 slaying". Associated Press . November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  30. ↑ Blakinger, Keri (November 8, 2017). "Mexican man executed after appeals fail". San Antonio Express-News . Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Arkansas executes 2 inmates in one night". WKBW-TV . April 24, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  32. 1 2 Burke, Liz (April 26, 2017). "Arkansas goes ahead with double execution". News.com.au . Retrieved January 5, 2018.
Preceded by
2016 		   List of people executed   
   in the United States in   
2017		Succeeded by
2018
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.