Capital punishment by the United States federal government
This is a list of individuals executed by the United States. The United States federal government (in comparison to the separate states) applies the death penalty for certain crimes: treason, espionage, federal murder, large scale drug trafficking and attempting to kill a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases. Military law allows execution of soldiers for several crimes. Executions by the federal government have been rare compared to those by state governments. Only 26 federal (including military) executions have been carried out since 1950. Only 3 of those (none of them military) have occurred in the modern post-Gregg era. This list only includes those executed under federal jurisdiction. Fifty-five people are on the federal death row at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana as of November 23, 2007.
History
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 restored the death penalty under federal law for drug offenses and some types of murder. President Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act expanding the federal death penalty in 1994. In response to the Oklahoma City bombing, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was passed in 1996. Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute became the only federal prison to hold and execute people.
Timothy McVeigh was executed on June 11, 2001 for his involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing. It was the first federal execution since 1963. Other executions by the United States include Juan Raul Garza on June 19, 2001 and Louis Jones Jr. on March 18, 2003. Sentences of death are now handed down by the jury, and the jury's decision is read and approved or disapproved by the judge. No recommendation for the death penalty from a jury has yet been refused by the judge at sentencing.
Fifty-five people are currently on the federal death row. Two people have been re-sentenced since 1976 to life in prison and one was commuted to life in prison by President Bill Clinton in 2001.
Capital offenses
These are the twelve offenses punishable by death or another punishment in the United States Code:
- Using a chemical weapon where the use causes death
- Killing a member of the United States Congress, the Cabinet or Supreme Court
- Kidnapping a member of the Congress, the Cabinet or Supreme Court resulting in death
- Conspiracy to kill a member of the Congress, the Cabinet or Supreme Court resulting in death
- Espionage
- Using an explosive knowingly to kill a person
- Causing death using an illegal firearm
- Genocide where death results
- First Degree Murder
- Murder perpetrated by poison or lying in wait.
- Murder that is willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated.
- Murder in the perpetrated or in the attempt to perpetrate any arson, escape, murder, kidnapping, treason, espionage, sabotage, aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse, child abuse, burglary, or robbery
- Murder perpetrated as part of a pattern or practice of assault or torture against a child or children
- Murder perpetrated from a premeditated design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human being other than him who is killed
- Murder committed by a federal prisoner or an escaped federal prisoner sentenced to 15 years to life or a more severe penalty
- Assassinating the President or a member of his staff
- Kidnapping the President or a member of his staff resulting in death
- Killing persons aiding Federal investigations or State correctional officers
- Sexual abuse resulting in death
- Sexual exploitation of children resulting in death
- Torture resulting in death
- Treason
- War crimes resulting in death
- Large-scale drug trafficking (currently no one on the death row)
Method
Federal law requires that the method of execution is the one used by the state the crime is committed in. The judge may select the method used by another state if the capital offense was committed in a state without the death penalty. All of the executions since 1976 under federal law have been by lethal injection.
Recent civilian executions
Only 26 federal (including military) executions have been carried since 1950.[1][2] Only 3 of those (none of them military) have occurred in the modern post-Gregg era. This list only includes those executed under federal jurisdiction. Since 1963, three people have been executed by the federal government of the United States. All were executed by lethal injection.
| Executed person | Date | Crime | State where crime ocurred | President | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy McVeigh | June 11, 2001 | murder of eight federal employees through the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (See Oklahoma City bombing.) | Oklahoma | G. W. Bush |
| 2 | Juan Raul Garza | June 19, 2001 | murder of Thomas Albert Rumbo, ordering the murders of Gilberto Matos, Erasmo De La Fuente, Antonio Nieto, Bernabe Sosa, Diana Flores Villareal, Oscar Cantu, and Fernando Escobar Garcia in conjunction with a drug-smuggling ring | Texas | G. W. Bush |
| 3 | Louis Jones, Jr. | March 18, 2003 | rape and murder of Pvt. Tracie McBride | Texas | G. W. Bush |
Earlier civilian executions
Between 1950 and 1963, 13 people were executed (not counting those executed under military law):[1][2]
| Executed person | Method of execution | Offense | Date of Execution | Location | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Aldermon | hanging | murder | August 17, 1929 | Broward County Jail, Fort Lauderdale, Florida | |
| Carl Panzram | hanging | murder | September 5, 1930 | United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas | |
| George Barrett | hanging | murder | March 24, 1936 | Marion County Jail, Indiana | The first person to receive the death penalty by hanging under a congressional act that made it a capital offense to kill a federal agent.[3] |
| Arthur Gooch | hanging | kidnapping | June 19, 1936 | Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma | |
| Earl Gardner | hanging | murder | July 12, 1936 | Gila County Jail, Arizona | |
| Anthony Chebatoris | hanging | National Bank Robbery | July 8, 1938 | Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), Milan, Michigan | |
| Henry Seadlund | electrocution | kidnapping | July 14, 1938 | Cook County Jail, Illinois | |
| Robert Suhay | hanging | murder | August 12, 1938 | United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas | |
| Glenn Applegate | hanging | murder | August 12, 1938 | United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas | |
| James Dalhover | electrocution | bank robbery and murder | November 18, 1938 | Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Indiana | |
| hanging | murder | November 10, 1939 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | ||
| Herbert Hans Haupt, Heinrich Heinck, Edward Kerling, Herman Neubauer, Richard Quirin, Werner Thiel |
electrocution | sabotage | August 8, 1942 | D.C. Jail, Washington, D.C. | Tried by a military commission appointed by President Roosevelt on July 8, 1942. |
| Clyde Arwood | electrocution | murder | August 14, 1943 | Tennessee State Prison, Nashville, Tennessee | |
| Henry Ruhl | gas chamber | murder on a government reservation | April 27, 1945 | Wyoming State Penitentiary, Rawling, Wyoming | |
| Austin Nelson | hanging | murder | March 1, 1948 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | |
| David Joseph Watson | electrocution | murder on the high seas | September 15, 1948 | Florida State Prison, Raiford, Florida | |
| Samuel Richard Shockley | gas chamber | murder | December 3, 1948 | California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California | |
| Miran Edgar Thompson | gas chamber | murder | December 3, 1948 | California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California | |
| Carlos Romero Ochoa | gas chamber | murder | December 10, 1948 | California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California | |
| Eugene LaMoore | hanging | murder | April 14, 1950 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | |
| Fred Pritchertt | electrocution | murder | February 15, 1952 | Washington, D.C. | |
| William Tyler Jr. | electrocution | murder | July 25, 1952 | Washington, D.C. | |
| Albert Allen | electrocution | murder/robbery | March 20, 1953 | Washington, D.C. | |
| Julius Rosenberg | electrocution | espionage | June 19, 1953 | New York State Prison, Sing Sing, New York | |
| Ethel Rosenberg | electrocution | espionage | June 19, 1953 | New York State Prison, Sing Sing, New York | female |
| Carl Austin Hall | gas chamber | kidnapping and murder | December 18, 1953 | Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri | |
| Bonnie Brown Heady | gas chamber | murder | December 18, 1953 | Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri | female |
| Gerhard Puff | electrocution | murder | August 12, 1954 | New York State Prison, Sing Sing, New York | |
| Arthur Ross Brown | gas chamber | kidnapping | February 24, 1956 | Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri | |
| Robert Carter | electrocution | murder | August 21, 1957 | Washington, D.C. | |
| George Krull | electrocution | kidnapping | August 21, 1957 | Georgia State Prison, Reidsville, Georgia | |
| Michael Krull | electrocution | rape | August 21, 1957 | Georgia State Prison, Reidsville, Georgia | |
| Victor Feguer | hanging | kidnapping | March 15, 1963 | Iowa State Penitentiary, Fort Madison, Iowa |
From 1790 to 1950, there were 327 Federal, 271 Territorial and 40 Indian Tribunal executions according to the most complete records.[4] One of those was the execution of James Arcene on June 18, 1885, when he probably was only 10 or 11 years old, for his role in a robbery and murder committed when he was 10 years old.
Presidential assassins
| Executed person | Date of execution | Method | President Assassinated | Under President |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Atzerodt | July 7, 1865 | hanging | Abraham Lincoln | Andrew Johnson |
| David Herold | July 7, 1865 | hanging | Abraham Lincoln | Andrew Johnson |
| Lewis Powell | July 7, 1865 | hanging | Abraham Lincoln | Andrew Johnson |
| Mary Surratt | July 7, 1865 | hanging | Abraham Lincoln | Andrew Johnson |
| Charles J. Guiteau | June 30, 1882 | hanging | James Garfield | Chester A. Arthur |
The assassinations of Lincoln and Garfield were prosecuted by the federal government because they took place in the District of Columbia. The assassin of William McKinley, Leon Czolgosz was tried and executed for murder by New York state authorities. The accused assassin of John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald would presumably have been tried for murder by Texas state authorities had he not been killed by Jack Ruby. Only after Kennedy's death was it made a federal crime to murder the President of the United States.
Military executions
The United States military has executed 135 people since 1916. The last execution was in 1961.
- U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett on April 13, 1961 for rape and attempted murder.
Since 1865 (American Civil War) only one person has been executed for a purely military offense.
- Private Eddie Slovik, January 31, 1945, convicted of desertion
See also
References
- ^ a b Federal Executions 1927-2003. Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved on 16 October 2008.
- ^ a b The Federal Death Penalty. Death Row Speaks. Retrieved on 20 October 2008.
- ^ Barrett's Execution. George W. Barrett (-1936). Retrieved on 12 November 2008.
- ^ 340 Federal, 271 Territorial and 40 Indian Tribunal Executions 1790 to 1963. Retrieved on 20 October 2008.
Text of Laws
- Using a chemical weapon where the use causes death
- Killing a member of the congress, the cabinet or Supreme Court, Kidnapping a member of the congress, the cabinet or Supreme Court resulting in death and Conspiracy to kill a member of the congress, the cabinet or Supreme Court resulting in death
- Espionage
- Using an explosive device to knowingly kill a person
- Causing death using an illegal firearm
- Genocide where death results
- First Degree Murder
- Murder by a federal prisoner
- Killing persons aiding Federal investigations or State correctional officers
- Murdering the president or his staff and Kidnapping the president or his staff resulting in death
- Sexual abuse resulting in death
- Sexual exploitation of children resulting in death
- Torture resulting in death
- Treason
- War Crimes Resulting in death