Post by falcon66 on Jul 20, 2006 21:35:54 GMT -5
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN AMERICA
1608 -- Capt. George Kendall, convicted of spying for France, is shot at Jamestown in Virginia in the 1st recorded execution in the new colonies.
1692 -- 20 people are executed after the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.
1846 -- Michigan becomes the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason.
1888 -- Seeking a more humane method of execution than hanging, New York builds the first electric chair. Other states soon adopt the method.
1924 -- Texas uses its electric chair for the 1st time. Charles Reynolds goes 1st, followed by 4 inmates the same night. Nevada executes the 1st inmate in a gas chamber.
1930s -- The number of executions in the United States peaks at an average of 167 per year.
1936 -- In the last public execution, Rainey Bethea, a rapist and murderer, is hanged in Owensboro, Ky.
1945 -- Army Pvt. Eddie Slovak is executed by firing squad for desertion, the 1st U.S. soldier executed by firing squad since the Civil War.
1972 -- The U.S. Supreme Court effectively outlaws capital punishment. The sentences of 45 Texas inmates are commuted to life in prison.
1976 -- The Supreme Court lifts the death penalty ban.
1977 -- Gary Gilmore faces a firing squad in Utah, the 1st U.S. execution in almost 10 years. His final words: "Let's do it."
1982 -- Texas resumes executions. On Dec. 7, Charlie Brooks Jr. of Fort Worth becomes the 1st person in the United States to be executed by injection.
1996 -- Utah uses a firing squad for an execution for the last time. Delaware uses hanging for the last time.
2001 -- Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh becomes the 1st federal prisoner executed since 1963.
2005 -- North Carolina executes Kenneth Lee Boyd, a double murderer. He is the 1,000th person executed since the ban was lifted in 1976.
2006 -- Executions nationwide since 1976: 1,031. In Texas: 369.
[sources: Death Penalty Information Center, Wikipedia, www.clarkprosecutor.org ]
1608 -- Capt. George Kendall, convicted of spying for France, is shot at Jamestown in Virginia in the 1st recorded execution in the new colonies.
1692 -- 20 people are executed after the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.
1846 -- Michigan becomes the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason.
1888 -- Seeking a more humane method of execution than hanging, New York builds the first electric chair. Other states soon adopt the method.
1924 -- Texas uses its electric chair for the 1st time. Charles Reynolds goes 1st, followed by 4 inmates the same night. Nevada executes the 1st inmate in a gas chamber.
1930s -- The number of executions in the United States peaks at an average of 167 per year.
1936 -- In the last public execution, Rainey Bethea, a rapist and murderer, is hanged in Owensboro, Ky.
1945 -- Army Pvt. Eddie Slovak is executed by firing squad for desertion, the 1st U.S. soldier executed by firing squad since the Civil War.
1972 -- The U.S. Supreme Court effectively outlaws capital punishment. The sentences of 45 Texas inmates are commuted to life in prison.
1976 -- The Supreme Court lifts the death penalty ban.
1977 -- Gary Gilmore faces a firing squad in Utah, the 1st U.S. execution in almost 10 years. His final words: "Let's do it."
1982 -- Texas resumes executions. On Dec. 7, Charlie Brooks Jr. of Fort Worth becomes the 1st person in the United States to be executed by injection.
1996 -- Utah uses a firing squad for an execution for the last time. Delaware uses hanging for the last time.
2001 -- Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh becomes the 1st federal prisoner executed since 1963.
2005 -- North Carolina executes Kenneth Lee Boyd, a double murderer. He is the 1,000th person executed since the ban was lifted in 1976.
2006 -- Executions nationwide since 1976: 1,031. In Texas: 369.
[sources: Death Penalty Information Center, Wikipedia, www.clarkprosecutor.org ]