As of October 1, 2024[update], there were 2,180 death row inmates in the United States, including 49 women.[1] The number of death row inmates changes frequently with new convictions, appellate decisions overturning conviction or sentence alone, commutations, or deaths (through execution or otherwise).[2] Due to this fluctuation as well as lag and inconsistencies in inmate reporting procedures across jurisdictions, the information may become outdated.
Demographics
The absolute number of people on death row, in 2024, per US State. As of September 12, 2024The relative number of people on death row, per 10,000,000 inhabitants, in 2024, per US State. As of September 12, 2024
Avila-Torrez was later linked to the rapes and murders of eight-year-old Laura Hobbs and nine-year-old Krystal Tobias in his hometown of Zion, Illinois.
Davis was an officer in the New Orleans Police Department. He ordered a drug dealer to kill a 32-year-old woman, Kim Groves, who had witnessed Davis abuse a suspect and filed a brutality complaint. He was also convicted of witness tampering (which was later thrown out) and, subsequent to his first death sentence, of two drug trafficking charges.
Gabrion had previously raped Timmerman on August 7, 1996, and two days before the trial she went missing. The murder took place in Michigan, which does not have the death penalty, but the body was found in Manistee National Forest, which is federal land. On appeal, his defense team argued that they should consider any reasonable doubt they have that the murder took place outside of the forest before being moved into the forest after death, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty.
Kadamovas and co-defendant Iouri Mikhel were sentenced to death for the ransom related kidnappings and murders of five people. The men allegedly demanded a total of more than $5.5 million from relatives and associates, and received more than $1 million from victims' relatives. Prosecutors said the victims were killed regardless of whether the ransoms were paid. The bodies were tied with weights and dumped in a reservoir near Yosemite National Park.
Roane and Tipton were found guilty of killing several people in order to expand the influence of their drug trafficking syndicate in Virginia. A third co-defendant, Corey Johnson, was executed by lethal injection on January 14, 2021. A fourth man, Vernon Lance Thomas, was sentenced to life without parole. Roane and Tipton are currently the longest-serving prisoners on federal death row.
Kyrgyz-American, Islamic terrorism[11] inspired lone wolf who, along with his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, perpetrated the attack. Tamerlan later died due to critical injuries and massive blood loss during a shootout with police on April 19, 2013. On July 31, 2020, Tsarnaev's death sentence was overturned on appeal, but was reinstated by the US Supreme Court two years later.
Raped and murdered multiple women at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from December 15, 1986, to January 6, 1987.
36 years, 175 days
On November 26, 2008, a federal judge issued a stay of execution stopping the planned December 10 execution. Gray is the military's longest-serving death row inmate and the only one to have his execution approved by the president.
Previously convicted in 1986 by the State of North Carolina, retried and acquitted in 1989, and widely reported as exonerated; recalled to active duty for military court martial (as he had been in the U.S. Army at the time of the murders) under separate sovereignty (see Double jeopardy).
Shot and murdered 49-year-old Jefferson County deputy sheriff William Hardy in 1995.
26 years, 52 days
Johnson's conviction was controversial as his guilty verdict as centered on the testimony of a single witness who overheard Johnson allegedly admitting to the murder in a prison phone call. There were several alibi witnesses who testified that Johnson was at another part of the town when Hardy was killed, giving rise to concerns that Johnson was innocent.
Raped and murdered 43-year-old Lisa Marie Nichols.
19 years, 56 days
Jones also confessed to committing twenty additional murders across four other states in a 12-year span. These confessions are considered dubious and he has since recanted them.
Peraita was originally serving life without parole for his role in the 1994 murders of three Popeyes restaurant workers. His accomplice was executed for these murders in 2017.
Spencer shot all three officers and testified that he acted alone, but his alleged accomplice, Nathaniel Woods, was also sentenced to death. Woods was executed in 2020 in a highly publicized and controversial execution.
Capital punishment exists as a punishment in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States, but does not have a prescribed method of execution. No executions have been imposed or performed since the territory gained self-governance in 1949; the last executions occurred in 1939, when the island was under the control of the United States Navy.[18]
On July 12, 2011, police officers were called to ten-year-old Ame Deal's home, where she was found dead in a small foot locker, having suffocated. Ame lived with a number of relatives, including her aunt and legal guardian, Cynthia Stoltzmann. Allen was Stoltzmann's daughter. The family first told the police officers that Ame was playing hide-n-seek and locked herself in the trunk the night before, after the adults went to sleep. During interrogation, Sammantha and her husband John confessed to locking Ame in the trunk as a form of punishment, because she took a popsicle without permission.[citation needed]
During the early morning hours of October 8, 2000, Wendi Andriano bludgeoned her 33-year-old husband Joseph to death with a bar stool and stabbed him in the neck with a thirteen-inch knife in the couple's Ahwatukee, Arizona apartment. His autopsy revealed that he had sustained 23 blows to the skull, and traces of sodium azide were also found in his system.[21] Approximately one hour before Joe's murder, his wife Wendi had called 911 at the behest of a co-worker, claiming that her terminally ill husband was dying. When paramedics arrived however, Wendi turned them away, stating that Joe had a do-not-resuscitate order, and that his wish was to die. Paramedics left the scene. One hour later, Wendi called 911 again, reporting that she had stabbed and beaten her husband to death in self-defense. She also made claims that her husband was physically and psychologically abusive toward her. However, being that Joe was weak from chemotherapy and the sodium azide poisoning, he was unable to defend himself.[21]
Rapes and murders of two prostitutes, 21-year-old Alisa Marie Beck and 44-year-old Karen Jane Campbell in Mesa, committed in 2004 and 2007, respectively.
13 years, 75 days
Benson is serving 135 years imprisonment for two unrelated sexual assaults, and police believe he might be responsible for further crimes.
Murdered 29-year-old Raul Flores and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia, in Arivaca, Arizona, during a home invasion.
13 years, 259 days
Had ties with the Aryan Nations, a white supremacist group. Convicted for four murders in total, and two suspected killings in 1997, was sentenced to death and received 78 years for other crimes just one month after his death sentence.
On May 30, 2009, Forde was active in the Minuteman movement, a grassroots anti-illegal immigration group that would station themselves along the U.S. southern border and keep watch for Mexicans crossing the border illegally and alert the Border Patrol. Forde allegedly boasted of robbing drug dealers to finance the movement. Prosecutors alleged Forde and her associates entered the trailer disguised as government officials looking for fugitives. No drugs were found in the trailer.[22] Albert Gaxiola, who participated in the May 30, 2009 murders, received life without parole plus 54 years.[23]
Djerf and Albert Luna Jr. met and became friends while working at a Safeway supermarket. In January 1993, Luna burgled Djerf's apartment. Djerf told police he suspected Luna, but they took no action. In September of that year, Djerf entered the Luna home and killed Luna's father, mother, and two siblings over the course of several hours.[24]
Goudeau is a serial killer and rapist, referred to as the Baseline Killer by law enforcement and media prior to his identification. Goudeau is believed to have committed nine counts of first degree murder (eight women and one man), in addition to fifteen sexual assaults on women and young girls, eleven counts of kidnapping, and a number of armed robberies.[25][26]
Rape and murder of 31-year-old Miguela Burhans in her Tucson apartment on June 13, 1991.
32 years, 12 days
Walden is also serving five life terms for another murder and four rapes, all committed within the Tucson area from 1989 to 1991. He has also been linked to a third murder, for which he has never been charged.
Williams is currently serving two life terms in West Virginia for the murders of two police officers, who were killed four years apart. He killed one of them in 1979 while escaping prison and was later captured after he killed the man in Arizona.
Murdered his wife, mother-in-law and three children.
17 years, 85 days
In 2003, Brothers drove from Columbus, Ohio to Bakersfield, California to murder his family. He then drove back to Columbus and flew back to California to find his family murdered. He was on trial two years later and convicted on all counts.
Abducted, raped and murdered 15-year-old Susan Louise Jordan.
42 years, 294 days
Brown posed as a jogger and dragged Jordan, who was on her way to school, into the woods, where he then strangled her with her shoelace. Brown then made numerous calls to the Riverside Police Department and the Jordan residence.
Carpenter is known as the Trailside Killer. He is suspected in the murders of at least three other women and he was found guilty of two additional murders. He is the oldest death row inmate in California.
Axing and stabbing of Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their daughter Jessica, and their son Joshua's friend Christopher Hughes.
39 years, 214 days
8-year-old Joshua had his throat cut but survived the attack.Cooper escaped several times from custody in Pennsylvania and from the minimum security section of California Institution for Men in Chino.
Ford was arrested after he walked into the Humboldt County Sheriff Department in Eureka, California in November 1998 with a woman's severed breast in his pocket. He is believed to have killed others.
Raped and strangled four prostitutes in Santa Ana and Anaheim from 2013 to 2014.
7 years, 322 days
Gordon's accomplice, fellow sex offender Franc Cano, pleaded guilty to four murders and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Both men are also accused in the murder of a fifth victim, but neither has been charged.
Rapes and murders of two women during burglaries in Los Angeles in 1984, both committed on separate occasions.
36 years, 79 days
Haley committed these crimes in the midst of a crime spree with the help of his older brother Reginald, who was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Haleys are prime suspects in six additional murders, but were never charged.
Raped and murdered prostitutes JoAnn Sweets and Sophia Glover in May and August 1986
30 years, 93 days
Known as "The Dumpster Killer" for leaving his victims' bodies in dumpsters, sometimes setting them alight. Also charged with two other murders dating back to 1985, but was never brought to trial due to his existing death sentence.
Raped, tortured, mutilated and murdered a minimum of sixteen young men.
35 years, 22 days
In a series of killings spanning between 1972 and 1983, the majority of his crimes were committed in California. He is suspected of having raped and murdered 51 other boys and young men.
Tortured and stabbed 24-year-old Thien Minh Ly, a Vietnamese-American, 22 times.
26 years, 365 days
Lindberg and his accomplice, 17-year-old Domenic Christopher, encountered Ly, who was around the tennis courts at Tustin High School. Lindberg and Christopher trapped Ly on the courts, beat him, kicked him, and then stabbed him.
A series of thirteen murders that lasted throughout the summer of 1987 in the East Bay became known as the "Day Stalker Murders". Lynch was arrested on October 14, 1987, and was convicted of three of the murders and was sentenced to death.
Convicted of participating in the murder of Sergeant Howell Burchfield in 1985.
34 years, 144 days
Masters was originally sent to prison for armed robbery. He was convicted of fashioning the weapon that was used by Andre Johnson, another inmate in the murder of Sergeant Burchfield.
Serial killer from 1997 to 2003, killed twelve people.
15 years, 347 days
McGhee was a Toonerville Rifa 13gang member of Scottish and Mexican descent from Atwater Village, Los Angeles. He is believed to be responsible for at least 12 homicides, three of which led to convictions, and at least 10 attempted murders, four of which led to convictions.
Merritt was convicted of torturing and murdering his business partner, Joseph McStay, Joseph's wife Summer, and their two young sons. The family went missing in February 2010, in a case that attracted national attention. Their remains were found in two shallow graves in November 2013 and Merritt was charged in November 2014. After numerous trial delays, a jury convicted Merritt in June 2019.
Raped, hammered and stabbed 17-year-old Terri Lynn Winchell.
41 years, 174 days
Morales's cousin, Richard Ortega, hired him to murder Winchell, Ortega's male lover's girlfriend. Richard Ortega was sentenced to life without parole. Morales's original execution date of February 21, 2006, was postponed as a result of two court-appointed anesthesiologists withdrawing from the procedure.
Raped and murdered 13-year-old Tammy Jarschke and 14-year-old Tanya Jones in 1981, and 15-year-old Kathy Graves in 1989
10 years, 199 days
Nissensohn was convicted following a cold case review of one case, and was implicated in the earlier murders by witness testimony. He had previously been convicted for the murder of a woman in Washington State and was serving a 25-year sentence.
Killed four people in gang related shootings during the summer of 1995.
22 years, 283 days
Accomplice of Run Chhoun, who was sentenced to death for these crimes as well as the murder of five family members. Both were members of the Tiny Rascal Gang.
Murdered 42-year-old Carole Sund and her daughter's friend, 16-year-old Argentine exchange student Silvina Pelosso, later he raped and slit the throat of Sund's daughter, 15-year-old Juliana Sund in 1999. He also murdered and beheaded 26-year-old Joie Ruth Armstrong, five months later.
Murdered 42-year old Dawn Ellerman and her daughter, 13-year-old Erin Ellerman, during a robbery in which he also set the home of the victims on fire. Two weeks later he shot 59-year-old Charles Wells, who was working on a car.
32 years, 289 days
Creator of the constructed language Poliespo. In 2023, Waldon's convictions were overturned by the California Supreme Court on grounds that he was denied representation by competent counsel.[31]
Murder of PFC Samuel Eliezer Herr and his friend, Juri Kibuishi.
8 years, 79 days
Killed two people in an attempt to fund his 2010 wedding and honeymoon. A jury deliberated for 1 hour 14 minutes before recommending the death penalty, one of the shortest death penalty deliberations in Orange County history.[32]
Murdered and dismembered Hungarian couple, Frank Griga and his girlfriend Krisztina Furton, during an extortion kidnapping.
26 years, 158 days
Changes to capital punishment laws have helped Doorbal, who in 2017 had his death sentence overturned. In case Miami prosecutors seek the death penalty again, he will be tried by a jury.
11 years, 200 days (first sentence; overthrown) 6 years, 220 days (second sentence)
Originally sentenced to death for the murder of Harvey Horne II in 1996, the Florida Supreme Court threw out Doty's sentence in 2016, but he was retried and received a new one in 2018. Has selected electrocution as his method of execution.
He was also sentenced to life in prison in Georgia for the murder of Meredith Emerson, and was sentenced in North Carolina to four life sentences for the murders of John and Irene Bryant. Hilton is also suspected in the killing of Judy Smith.
Kidnapped, robbed and buried alive his girlfriend's former neighbors, married couple James "Reggie" and Carol Sumner, both 61-year-old.
17 years, 114 days
Alan Wade, who help in the murders was sentenced to death. His girlfriend, Tiffany Cole was also sentenced to death, but retrial and sentenced to life on August 23, 2023. Bruce Nixon, who also participed in the murders was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Rogers was also sentenced to death in California for the murder of Sandra Gallagher, and is suspected of having murdered three other women in Ohio, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Considered by investigators as a possible alternative suspect to O. J. Simpson in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Quadruple murder of Eunice Zeigler, Perry and Virginia Edwards, and Charlie Mays.
48 years, 158 days
Zeigler's case has been the focus of controversy since he was denied bloodstainDNA analysis in 2013 and 2016, and touch DNA analysis in April 2017.Zeigler was scheduled to be executed on October 22, 1982. However, the U.S. District Court stayed the execution due to new evidence. Zeigler was then scheduled to be executed on May 20, 1986, but it was again stayed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals due to inadequate representation. Zeigler is Florida's longest-serving death row inmate.
Rape and bludgeoning of 75-year-old Christine Whitis.
11 years, 40 days
Whitis was a family friend who had come to his New Albany home to console Gibson after his mother's death.[41] Gibson has pleaded guilty to three murders. After he was arrested for Whitis' murder, police excavated Gibson's yard to recover the body of Stephanie Kirk, a 35-year-old Charlestown woman who disappeared in 2012. He also admitted to fatally stabbing Karen Hodella of Port Orange, Florida, in October 2002.[42][43]
Eric D. Holmes
Stabbed to death 20-year-old Theresa Blosl and 30-year-old Charles Ervin.
31 years, 270 days
Holmes was fired from his job at Shoney's Restaurant after an argument with co-worker Amy Foshee. At closing on the day of his firing, Holmes waited in the parking lot with Michael Vance. Holmes and Vance attacked Foshee and two managers as they exited the building, stabbing them multiple times, and stealing the bank deposit money. The restaurant managers, Theresa Blosl and Charles Ervin, died; Foshee survived. Vance was tried separately and sentenced to 190 years.[41]
Kevin Isom
Shot his wife, 40-year-old Cassandra Isom and his two stepchildren, 16-year-old Michael Moore and 13-year-old Ci'Andria Cole.
11 years, 288 days
The crime was in response to learning his wife was planning to leave him. He then barricaded himself in the family's apartment and shot at police officers attempting to take him into custody.[41]Isom's defense attorney argued that a death sentence was inappropriate given the emotional state of his client, who suffered an extreme emotional disturbance from losing his job and then being left by his wife. However, the prosecution pointed out that he was extremely abusive and unfaithful to his wife and drove her away.[44]
Michael Dean Overstreet
Raped, strangled and shot 18-year-old Kelly Eckart.
24 years, 143 days
Kelly Eckart, an 18-year-old freshman at Franklin College, was last seen on September 27, 1997, after leaving work. The next morning, her car was found abandoned in a rural area, with its lights on and keys in the ignition. She was found in a ravine in Brown County four days later. She had been shot and strangled. Semen found on the body was matched to Overstreet.He has schizoaffective disorder and had hallucinations as a child. He was discharged from the marines on the basis of mental illness.[41] A judge determined Overstreet was not competent to be executed in November 2014. The Indiana Attorney General chose not to appeal the decision. He remains on death row indefinitely.[45]
Benjamin Ritchie
Shot 32-year-old officer William Toney in the chest.[41]
22 years, 67 days
Ritchie was involved in a police chase after he was spotted driving a stolen vehicle. The chase ended when he crashed the vehicle and proceeded on foot before shooting Toney.Ritchie has a number of cognitive and emotional disorders. He has bipolar disorder and a non-specified cognitive disorder. The cause of the physiological condition was not identified, but experts speculated that several past serious head injuries, his mother's heavy use of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy, his own history of drug use, and a history of childhood abuse were to likely causes.[46]
Roy Lee Ward
Rape and stabbing of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in her home.
22 years, 3 days
The victim's 14-year-old sister was sleeping upstairs when she heard the screams of her sister. She called 911. Police found Ward still in the home when they arrived. Ward's first conviction was overturned in 2004 on the basis that pretrial publicity tainted the jury pool. He was again convicted and sentenced to death.Ward has been diagnosed with a number of psychiatric disorders including exhibitionism, antisocial personality disorder, and ADHD.[47]
Jeffrey A. Weisheit
Murder by arson of the two children of his girlfriend, 8-year-old Alyssa and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch.
11 years, 163 days
After his arrest, Weisheit admitted stuffing a dish towel in Caleb's mouth and using duct tape to bind his arms behind his back. Two flares were found near the boy's body. Autopsies revealed the children were alive when the fire was set. He told police he did it because Caleb was misbehaving on the night before the fire.[48] Weisheit has bipolar disorder.[41]
Murders of his wife Karen, his two daughters, Lauren and Emily, and his wife's grandmother, Dorothy Wight.
13 years, 71 days
Gary Kleypas
1996 rape and murder of Carrie Williams in Pittsburg, Kansas.
26 years, 285 days (first sentence; overturned) 16 years, 18 days (second sentence)
The Kansas Supreme Court, in its review of his case, found serious errors with the state's death penalty statute and ordered that the penalty phase of his trial be redone. The sentence was overturned in 2001. In 2008, he was sentenced to death again.
Capital murder convictions for the murders of Izabel Lewicka and Suzette Trouten and first degree murder in the case of Lisa Stasi, who disappeared in 1985.
Kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered 19-year-old college student Jodi Sanderholm in 2007.[50]
15 years, 276 days
In October 2017, he appealed death sentence with arguments whether he is developmentally disabled. The judge rejected the defense's request for a hearing on whether Thurber is developmentally disabled, ruling that the defense had not presented enough evidence to warrant a hearing.[51]
He sued the Kentucky State Department of Corrections on the grounds that execution by lethal injection using the cocktail prescribed by Kentucky law constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case but rejected his challenge by a vote of 7–2. See Baze v. Rees
Robbery and shooting of 22-year-old Pamela Armstrong in Louisville on June 4, 1983.
39 years, 281 days (first sentence; overturned) 18 years, 149 days (second sentence)
White was initially convicted and sentenced to death for two other murders committed between June and July 1983, but his sentence was overturned and he was resentenced to 29 years imprisonment. He was paroled in 2001 and rearrested for violating his parole in 2006, when he was linked via DNA to Armstrong's killing.[53]
Involved in the murder of 36-year-old police officer Betty Smothers.
28 years, 320 days
The murdered police officer was the mother of Warrick Dunn, a former NFL running back. Broadway's accomplice, Kevan Brumfield, was also sentenced to death, but was resentenced to life on July 20, 2016, as he was ruled too intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution.
Murdered 25-year-old police officer Ronald Williams and 17-year-old Cuong Vu and 24-year-old Ha Vu, two brothers owners of a restaurant where she worked as a security guard.
29 years, 62 days
Frank was a New Orleans police officer. Her accomplice, Roger Lacaze was also sentenced to death, but was resentenced to life.
In 1997, Boliek was granted a stay of execution by Governor Mel Carnahan. Carnahan died in a plane crash in 2000 and Boliek's case was not resolved. A court determined only Carnahan could overturn the stay, effectively leaving Boliek's case in permanent limbo. Governor Jay Nixon's office determined Boliek would not be executed and he will spend the remainder of his life in prison. Boliek is Missouri's longest-serving death row inmate.[57][59][60]
Richard Emery
Murdered his girlfriend and her family in their home.[61]
2 years, 48 days
Charles Lee Mathenia
Murdered elderly sisters, 72-year-old Daisy Nash and 70-year-old Louanna Bailey in 1984.[57]
Murdered 19-year-old Phillip DeVine, 24-year-old Lisa Lambert and 21-year-old Brandon Teena.
28 years, 304 days
Days prior, Teena had reported to police that Lotter and his accomplice Tom Nissen had beat and raped him upon discovering he was transgender. Nissen was sentenced to life.
Raymond Mata Jr.
Kidnapped, murdered and dismembered 3-year-old Adam Gomez, his ex-girlfriend's son.
24 years, 203 days
Marco Torres
Shot two men, with one of the victims also being strangled and bound.
Kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered 42-year-old Thelma Davila and 45-year-old Katherine Powell in 1994 and 1995, respectively.
27 years, 94 days
Middleton was an ex-police officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department, Middleton is a suspect in a third murder committed in Colorado in 1993 and rapes done during his tenure with the Miami-Dade PD.
Note: On May 30, 2019, the state Senate voted to override Governor Chris Sununu's veto on a bill that abolished the state's death penalty 16–8. Since the veto had already been overridden by the state House of Representatives, the bill immediately became law and repealed capital punishment, replacing it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. The law was not retroactive and the one person on death row at the time of abolition remains there.
Raped and murdered his girlfriend Jayme Hurley and student Katherine Johnson on separate occasions in 1990.
29 years, 76 days
Known as "The Babyface Killer". Warren was also sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a woman in South Carolina, and was never charged for a murder in New York. He confessed to four murders additional murders committed in the Carolinas, but these victims have never been identified.
First sentenced when he admitted to committing the Royalton murders, then sentenced again for the Lake Township murders. Scheduled to be executed on September 23, 2026.
An initial execution date was set upon conviction for September 13, 2018, but the execution was stayed due to a pending appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Kirkland previously served sixteen years for the beating, choking and burning murder of his girlfriend. He was handed two death sentences, plus two sentences of seventy years to life.
McKnight had previously served seven years in a juvenile detention center for shooting and killing a man in 1992. The body of a different man was also found on McKnight's property in 2000.
The murder prompted the creation of Ohio Senate Bill 231 'Sierah's Law', a statute that provides for a searchable database of convicted violent felons living in the state.
26 years, 203 days (first sentence; overturned) 20 years, 116 days (second sentence)
Justin Sneed, the man who murdered Van Treese, agreed to plead guilty and testified against Glossip, so that he received a sentence of life without parole.The case is controversial as Sneed was at the time a methamphetamineaddict and possibly a mythomaniac.
Reece, a convicted kidnapper, was connected to her murder in 2015 on the basis of DNA evidence. He later confessed to three unrelated murders connected to the Texas Killing Fields, to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Murdered 22-year-old Aimee Willard, beating her to death.
26 years, 17 days
Bomar is also suspected to have murdered Maria Cabuenos to steal her car, since he had thrown out his own at a junkyard. Willard's DNA was found on the latter, which pointed out Bomar's culpability.
Stabbing murders of Heather Greaves, her sister Lisa and her daughter Avery at their home in King of Prussia on March 25, 2005.
19 years, 9 days
Eichinger is also serving a life sentence for the murder of Jennifer Still, who was murdered under similar circumstances at her house in Bridgeport in 1999.
The other four members of The Greensburg Six received long prison sentences, ranging from thirty years to life without parole. Knight appealed his sentence, but on November 15, 2018, his appeal was denied.
Rita Bixby, Steven's mother, was given two life sentences, while his father, Arthur Bixby, was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and committed to a mental facility.
Stabbed and strangled elderly couple, Clarence and Lillian James, at their home in Bartlett on August 22, 2003, ultimately slitting their throats with a pair of scissors.
15 years, 216 days
Jones was also sentenced to death in Florida for a similar murder committed just days after these murders, and is suspected of yet another killing in that state. His first death sentence was overturned, but he was found guilty in a second trial in 2015.[92]
Middlebrooks was scheduled to be executed on December 8, 2022. His execution was later suspended due to an oversight in the preparation for lethal injection in another execution.
Tortured and murdered her Job Corps classmate, 19-years-old Colleen Slemmer by crushing her skull with asphalt.
28 years, 266 days
Two of Pike's accomplices were also sentenced; Tadaryl Shipp was given life without parole plus 25 years, while Shadolla Peterson was sentenced to probation after testifying against her. In 2001, Pike and Natasha Cornett attempted to strangle fellow inmate Patricia Jones with a shoestring; Jones survived.
Killed his estranged wife Judy Robird Smith and her two sons, Chad and Jason Burnett.
34 years, 148 days
Smith was scheduled to be executed on April 21, 2022. However, his execution was reprieved by Governor Bill Lee due to an oversight in the preparation for lethal injection. Smith is the oldest death row inmate in Tennessee.
Due to the number of Texas death row inmates, only prisoners with Wikipedia pages or part of a criminal enterprise with a separate Wikipedia page are listed.
Abducted and murdered 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez to steal her newborn son.
22 years, 289 days
Prosecutors alleged that Carty orchestrated the crime, which was committed by three masked men who abducted Rodriguez and her son. Rodriguez was later found dead in the trunk of a car. Her 3-day-old son was rescued from a car parked nearby. The other three men were arrested, but only Carty was prosecuted for capital murder.Carty claims she was framed by drug dealers in response to her work as an informant and has appealed her conviction. Her appeals have been unsuccessful and the appeal procedure has been exhausted. Barring the granting of clemency, she stands to become the first female British national to be executed since Ruth Ellis in 1955, and the first British black woman executed in more than a century.
Robbed and murdered 85-year-old retired schoolteacher Escolastica Harrison in Brownsville, Texas.
25 years, 223 days
Gutierrez committed the crime with two others; one of them, Rene Garcia, was sentenced to life in prison while the other, Pedro Gracia, remains at large for the murder.
Robbed and murdered 80-year-old A. B. Towery Sr. in his home.
26 years, 269 days
The victim was struck with a hammer and stabbed nearly sixty times. The weapons used were a paring knife, a butcher knife, a grapefruit knife, and a fork. A lamp pole had been shoved more than five inches down the victim's throat.
Sexual assault and murder of 20-year-old Sheryl Norris at her apartment in San Marcos.
11 years, 190 days
Jenkins, who was detained at a mental hospital in California for four rapes committed during the 1970s, was linked to the crime via DNA. He is also a suspect in three additional murders committed from 1975 to 1977, but has not been charged.
Murdered her 2-years-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez.
16 years, 131 days
Lucio was the first woman of Hispanic descent in Texas to be sentenced to death. A problematic conviction and rejected appeals led to her case being covered in the 2020 documentary The State of Texas vs. Melissa.
Nelson had additionally murdered a fellow inmate named Jonathan Holden in prison before his trial commenced. Scheduled to be executed on February 5, 2025.
Routier's case has attracted the attention of wrongful convictionadvocacy groups in recent years. She is in the process of raising funds to test evidence found at the scene for DNA.[94][95]
Murdered a strip club manager and his friend in a fatal shooting on November 26, 2004.
17 years, 263 days
His accomplice Timothy Doan Payne was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007. Tabler confessed to two more murders of teenage girls on November 28, 2004, but had yet to stand trial for the double murder.
Murdered his estranged wife, 4-year-old son, and 13-month-old daughter on March 27, 2004.
19 years, 234 days
Residing in a psychiatric unit because of doubts about his mental health, since he removed his right eye on April 1, 2004, and then removed and consumed his left eye on December 9, 2008.
Murdered his girlfriend Dennise Hayslip and her lover, Darren Cain.
25 years, 230 days
Thompson alleges that his death penalty conviction is unjust, stating he acted in self-defense as he had been shot by Cain. The killings could be viewed as a crime of passion which would exclude the capital murder sentence. He also alleges that Hayslip died a week later due to medical malpractice, and not the actual shooting.He made headlines in 2005 by escaping from Harris County Jail in Houston after a parole meeting using a forged ID badge, and he was captured three days later.
Thornburg had also engaged in cannibalism by eating some of the victim's body parts and organs. Thornburg additionally confessed to murdering his girlfriend at Arizona in 2017, and also killed a roommate in May 2021 in Texas.
Strangled two people in September 2010 in Houston, during separate incidents
4 years, 283 days
Ward is considered the prime suspect in a series of at least four similar murders dating back to 1985, but was not charged with them due to lack of sufficient evidence for a conviction.
Wardrip was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 1986. He was released on December 11, 1997, but was sentenced to death on November 9, 1999, after he confessed to murdering Terry Sims. In December 2014, Wardrip's appeal was dismissed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Rapes and murders of six women in El Paso from May to August 1987, whose bodies were later found buried in the desert
31 years, 342 days
Wood is also a suspect in the disappearances of three other young girls and women. He has denied responsibility for the crimes and has repeatedly attempted to have his sentence overturned, but so far has been unsuccessful.
Party to the shooting of gas station clerk Kriss Lee Keeran.
26 years, 294 days
On January 2, 1996, Wood and Daniel Earl Reneau robbed a Kerrville gas station. While Wood waited outside, Reneau shot the clerk because he did not cooperate. Wood was convicted under the Texas law of parties and his death row conviction has been regarded as controversial, as he was not present during the murder. Reneau was executed on June 13, 2002.
Kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered 28-year-old Gordon Church on November 21, 1988.
35 years, 0 days
Lance Wood, his co-defendant, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder. Has selected lethal injection as his method of execution.[96]
Stabbed fellow inmate, Lonnie Blackmon, 67 times on July 6, 1994.
28 years, 135 days
At the time, Kell was serving a life sentence in Nevada for the 1986 murder of 21-year-old James "Cotton" Kelly, who had been stalking 15-year-old Sandy Shaw, a long-time friend of Kell's. Has selected firing squad as his method of execution.[98]
Murdered 49-year-old Kaye Tiede and her mother, 76-year-old Beth Potts near Beaver Springs, Summit County.
33 years, 211 days
Edward Deli, his co-defendant, was sentenced to life in prison. They also shot Tiede's husband, who survived, and attempted to set him on fire. Later they kidnapped their two daughters. Has selected lethal injection as his method of execution.
Twenty-three states have abolished capital punishment. Crimes committed in these states are still eligible for the death penalty if they are convicted in federal court for certain federal crimes. Capital punishment has been abolished in New Hampshire, but only for new sentences. One prisoner (Michael Addison) who was already sentenced to death remains on death row in the state.
States and the date of abolition of capital punishment:
Michigan (1846; abolished for murder, retained for treason until 1963)
^Calculated from the admission date (04/01/2010) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Details
^Calculated from the admission date (02/27/2001) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (06/01/2018) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (04/01/2010) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (06/13/2016) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (10/30/2002) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (10/17/2014) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (06/26/2003) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (10/21/1999) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (04/12/1993) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (03/28/2018) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
^Calculated from the admission date (04/19/2018) given by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction's official website: Offender Search Detail
