List of last executions in the United States by crime

This is a list of the last executions in the United States for the crimes stated.

List of last persons to be executed for a crime other than murder

Crime Convict Race Age Date Location Jurisdiction Other notes
Robbery James Cobern[1][2][3] White 38 September 4, 1964 Alabama State Cobern also sexually mutilated and murdered his victim. He was charged with murder, rape, and robbery, but the murder and rape charges never went to trial.[4] Herbert Bradley was executed in Texas on May 16, 1962, for a robbery where the victim was left permanently crippled from the waist down after being shot six times and beaten with a hammer, but did not die.
Rape Ronald Wolfe[5] White 33 May 8, 1964 Missouri State Wolfe's victim was an 8-year-old girl. At the time of his arrest, he was also wanted for raping another 8-year-old girl in New York.
Assault Rudolph Wright[6][7] Black 31 January 11, 1962 California State Wright's victim died. He received a life sentence for first degree murder and a mandatory death sentence for assault with a deadly weapon by an inmate serving a life sentence. Robert Harmon was executed in California for assault by a life convict on 9 August 1960 in a case where the victim did not die. Harmon wrote to the governor and warned that he would continue to assault or kill fellow inmates unless he was executed.
Kidnapping Billy Monk[8][9][10][11] White 26 November 21, 1960 California State Monk raped and stabbed his victim. While Victor Feguer is listed in ESPY as being executed for kidnapping, he also murdered his victim.
Burglary Ross McAfee[12][13][14][15] Black 39 November 22, 1957 North Carolina State McAfee was convicted of burglary in conjunction with the attempted rape of a 17-year-old girl whom he also attempted to murder. He also admitted to the murder of an elderly woman in Georgia in 1956.
Espionage Ethel and Julius Rosenberg White 35 (Julius) and 37 (Ethel) June 19, 1953 New York Federal The Rosenbergs rejected numerous chances to cooperate in exchange for clemency prior to their executions.
Desertion Eddie Slovik[16] White 24 January 31, 1945 Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France Military Slovik was the first person to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Clarence D. Gibson was executed on September 18, 1945, for premeditated murder and desertion.
Sabotage Herbert Hans Haupt, Heinrich Heinck, Edward Kerling, Hermann Neubauer, Richard Quirin, and Werner Thiel White 22 (Haupt), 35 (Heinck and Thiel), 33 (Kerling), 32 (Neubauer), and 34 (Quirin) August 8, 1942 Washington, D.C. Federal Executed for their roles in Operation Pastorius
Attempted murder Tommie Howard[17][18] Black 38 January 15, 1937 Louisiana State Howard shot a man in the head with a shotgun during a robbery. He'd previously served 10 years of a life sentence for murder.
Train robbery Black Jack Ketchum White 37 April 26, 1901 New Mexico Territory Federal
Arson George Hughes, George Smith, and Asbury Hughes[19] White 21 (George Hughes), 30 (George Smith) and 22 (Asbury Hughes) August 1, 1884 Alabama State George Smith was linked to two murders in other states.
Mutiny David Craig, Joseph Green, Thomas Plowder, James Allen, Howard Thomas, and Nathaniel Joseph Black 21 (Craig), 44 (Plowder), 23 (Allen), 19 (Thomas), and 20 (Joseph) December 1, 1865 Florida Military Arthur T. Brown, Andrew Gibson, Leroy E. Greene, Charles A. Horn, and Eugene A. Washington Jr. were executed for rape and mutiny in 1944.
Stealing, treason, and conduct unbecoming a slave Amy Spain[20] Black 17 March 10, 1865 Confederate South Carolina Military Executed under Confederate authority.
Counterfeiting John Richardson[Note 1] White 30 August 22, 1862 Confederate Virginia Federal Executed under Confederate authority.
Treason William Bruce Mumford[Note 2] White 42 June 7, 1862 Union-occupied New Orleans, Louisiana Military Mumford was executed for tearing down a U.S. flag.
Piracy Nathaniel Gordon[Note 3] White 30 February 21, 1862 New York Federal Gordon was executed for slave trading, which was defined as piracy when the perpetrator was an American citizen, and therefore subject to the same sentence.
Slave revolt Caesar, Sam, and Sanford (slaves) Black Unknown October 19, 1860 Alabama State
Aiding a runaway slave Starling (or Sterling) Clayton and Martin Carter White Unknown February 25, 1859 South Carolina State
Theft Jake (slave) Black Unknown December 3, 1855 Alabama State
Horse theft (grand larceny) Theodore Velenquez[21] Hispanic Unknown January 30, 1852 California State
Forgery Ray White Unknown March 6, 1840 South Carolina State
Counterfeiting Thomas Davis White 60 October 11, 1822 Alabama State John Richardson was hanged for counterfeiting by the Confederate government in Virginia on August 22, 1862.
Bestiality Joseph Ross[22][Note 4][23] White Unknown 1785 Pennsylvania State
Concealing the birth/death of an infant Hannah Piggen[24] Unknown Unknown 1785 Massachusetts State
Witchcraft Mary Parker, Alice Parker, Mary Eastey, Martha Corey, Ann Pudeator, Wilmot Redd, Margaret Scott, and Samuel Wardwell White Unknown September 22, 1692 Massachusetts Bay Colony Last executions of the Salem witch trials.
Incest Thomas Rood[25] White 46 October 18, 1672 Connecticut Colony Colony Only execution for incest in the United States. Thomas Rood's intellectually disabled daughter, Sarah Rood, whom he was convicted of having sexual relations with and who had fathered his child, was also tried for incest and pleaded guilty. However, Sarah was spared execution and instead flogged after the court found that her father had been raping her.
Sodomy Jan Creoli[26] Black Unknown March 25, 1646 New Netherland Colony
Adultery Mary Latham and John Britton[27] White 18 (Lantham) March 21, 1643 Massachusetts Bay Colony

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Thomas Davis, 60, was hanged for counterfeiting by the state of Alabama on October 11, 1822.
  2. ^ John Conn and four other persons were executed for treason on 1862 in Texas, under Confederate authority.
  3. ^ Slave trading was assimilated to piracy, as hostis humani generis.
  4. ^ On 1801, soldier Jose Antonio Rosas was shot for sodomy in Spanish California.

References

  1. ^ Supreme Court to hear case on death penalty restriction, Los Angeles Times, David G. Savage, January 05, 2008
  2. ^ "Coburn". Alabama Journal. June 8, 1964. p. 11. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  3. ^ "Cobern v. State". Justia Law. April 5, 1962. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  4. ^ "James W. Cobern Executed (September 4, 1964)". Great Bend Tribune. September 4, 1964. p. 6. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  5. ^ "RAPE WHERE VICTIM LIVED". May 12, 2009. Archived from the original on May 12, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  6. ^ "People v. Wright, 55 Cal.2d 560".
  7. ^ United States Demographics, Part B
  8. ^ "People v. Monk, 56 Cal.2d 288".
  9. ^ "Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, April 27, 1960". April 27, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  10. ^ "More on Capital Punishment". MarshallsKnowledge©. October 24, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  11. ^ "San Quentin Gas Chamber Claims Life of Billy Monk". Valley News. November 23, 1961. p. 19.
  12. ^ "Man's Life Taken for Rape Attempt". Charlotte News. November 22, 1957.
  13. ^ 100 S.E.2d 249 (N.C. 1957); 247 N.C. 98; STATE v. Ross McAFEE (alias J. C. Adams). No. 361, Supreme Court of North Carolina. November 6, 1957.
  14. ^ Berger, Peter L. (June 7, 2011). Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist: How to Explain the World Without Becoming a Bore. Prometheus Books. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-61614-390-9.
  15. ^ Christianson, Scott (2010). The Last Gasp: The Rise and Fall of the American Gas Chamber. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25562-3.
  16. ^ "The Sad Story of Private Eddie Slovik". 28-110-k.org. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  17. ^ "Tommie Howard Shreveport Times January 16 1937". The Times. January 16, 1937. p. 1. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  18. ^ "Tommie Howard, LA, 1937 January 15". archives.albany.edu. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  19. ^ Sentinel, Ann B. Chambless Special to the (November 11, 2011). "A story back in time". Jackson County Sentinel. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
  20. ^ O'Shea, Kathleen A. (1994). "Till death do us part" (PDF). Nemesis. 10 (2): 54.
  21. ^ Berry, Irene; O'Hare, Sheila and Silva, Jesse (2006). Legal Executions in California: A Comprehensive Registry, 1851–2005. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, p. 10.
  22. ^ Manion, Jen (October 7, 2015). Liberty's Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-9242-8.
  23. ^ Gutierrez, Ramon A.; Almaguer, Tomas (August 23, 2016). The New Latino Studies Reader: A Twenty-First-Century Perspective. Univ of California Press. p. 422. ISBN 978-0-520-28484-5.
  24. ^ "Bathsheba Spooner, Hannah Piggen, and Rachel Wall". Tattered Fabric: Fall River's Lizzie Borden. August 11, 2008. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015.
  25. ^ Beryl (June 15, 2018). "A Rood Tale". Norwich Bulletin. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
  26. ^ "Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin, 1607-1783, by Jonathan Ned Katz". outhistory.org. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  27. ^ "Mary Latham Marries an Older Man – And Regrets It - New England Historical Society". www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com. March 16, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
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