The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Nebraska since its statehood.
Four people convicted of murder have been executed by Nebraska since 1976.[1] Three were executed by electrocution. On April 21, 2011, the Nebraska Supreme Court set the first execution date via lethal injection for June 14, 2011. On May 26, 2011, the Nebraska Supreme Court stayed the execution due to objections that the sodium thiopental that Nebraska purchased from a Mumbai company failed to comply with U.S. pharmaceutical standards. The state's first lethal injection was carried out on August 14, 2018.[2]
| Name | Race | Age | Sex | Date of execution | County | Method | Victim(s) | Governor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harold Lamont Otey | Black | 43 | M | September 2, 1994 | Douglas | Electrocution | Jane McManus | Ben Nelson | |
| 2 | John Joseph Joubert | White | 33 | M | July 17, 1996 | Sarpy | Danny Eberle and Christopher Walden | |||
| 3 | Robert E. Williams | Black | 61 | M | December 2, 1997 | Lancaster | Catherine Brooks and Patricia McGarry | |||
| 4 | Carey Dean Moore | White | 60 | M | August 14, 2018 | Douglas | Lethal injection | Maynard D. Helgeland and Reuel Eugene Van Ness Jr. | Pete Ricketts |
| Race | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 2 | 50% | |
| White | 2 | 50% | |
| Age | |||
| 30–39 | 1 | 25% | |
| 40–49 | 1 | 25% | |
| 50–59 | 0 | 0% | |
| 60–69 | 2 | 50% | |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 4 | 100% | |
| Date of execution | |||
| 1976–1979 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1980–1989 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1990–1999 | 3 | 75% | |
| 2000–2009 | 0 | 0% | |
| 2010–2019 | 1 | 25% | |
| 2020–2029 | 0 | 0% | |
| Method | |||
| Electrocution | 3 | 75% | |
| Lethal injection | 1 | 25% | |
| Governor (Party) | |||
| 0 | 0% | ||
| 0 | 0% | ||
| 0 | 0% | ||
| 0 | 0% | ||
| 3 | 75% | ||
| 0 | 0% | ||
| Dave Heineman (R) | 0 | 0% | |
| Pete Ricketts (R) | 1 | 25% | |
| 0 | 0% | ||
| Total | 4 | 100% | |
| John Joubert was also tried and convicted of murdering Ricky Stetson in Portland, Maine. He received a life sentence in Maine. | |
| Robert E. Williams also murdered Virginia Rowe of Sioux Rapids, Iowa.[3] [4] |
The first execution in Nebraska reportedly was of Cyrus Tator, a former Kansas Legislature member and judge in Lykins County, Kansas who was tried and convicted of murdering his business partner in 1863.[5] Before 1903, counties carried out executions until the state took over. Since Nebraska statehood in 1867, a total of 14 people have been executed.
| Executed person | Date of execution | Method | Crime | Victims | Under Governor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen D. Richards | April 26, 1879 | Hanging | Murder | Peter Anderson and Harlson family | Silas Garber |
| 2 | Orlando Caslar | May 20, 1879 | George L. Monroe | Albinus Nance | ||
| 3 | Milton W. Smith | July 24, 1885 | His wife (name unknown) | James W. Dawes | ||
| 4 | Jim Reynolds | May 21, 1886 | James and John Pinkston | |||
| 5 | William Jackson Marion | March 25, 1887 | John Cameron | John Milton Thayer | ||
| 6 | David Hoffman | July 22, 1887 | James B. DeWitt | |||
| 7 | Albert Haunstine | May 17, 1891 | Hiram Roten and William Ashley | |||
| 8 | Christian Furst | June 5, 1891 | Carl J. Pulsifer | |||
| 9 | Charles Shepherd | |||||
| 10 | Ed Neil | October 9, 1891 | Allen and Dorothy Jones | |||
| 11 | Clinton E. Dixon | June 24, 1892 | Corporal Thomas Carter | James E. Boyd | ||
| 12 | Harry Hill | March 1, 1895 | Mattes Akeson | Silas A. Holcomb | ||
| 13 | Claude H. Hoover | August 7, 1896 | Samual DuBois | |||
| 14 | George W. Morgan | October 8, 1897 | Ida Gaskill | |||
| William Jackson Marion was convicted and executed for the murder of John Cameron. However, Cameron turned up alive in 1891. Marion received a posthumous pardon by Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey on the 100th anniversary of his execution. | |
| Although Christian Furst and Charles Shepherd are listed at 8 and 9, the two were hanged together simultaneously in the only double hanging in Nebraska's history. | |
| Private Clinton Dixon and his victim Corporal Thomas Carter were both members of the U.S. Army (Sixth U.S. Cavalry) making Dixon's execution a U.S. military execution. As such, only the President could grant clemency. President Benjamin Harrison declined to intervene. |
A total of 20 people were executed by Nebraska after 1897 and before the 1972 Supreme Court capital punishment ban.
| Executed person | Date of execution | Method | Crime | Victims | Under Governor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gottlieb Neigenfiend | March 13, 1903 | Hanging | Murder | Anna Bryer and Albert Bryer (ex-wife and ex-father in law) | John H. Mickey |
| 2 | William Rhea | July 10, 1903 | Herman Zahn | |||
| 3 | Harrison Clark | December 13, 1907 | Ed Flury | George L. Sheldon | ||
| 4 | Frank Barker | January 17, 1908 | Daniel and Alice Barker (his brother and sister in law) | |||
| 5 | Robert M. Shumway | March 5, 1909 | Sarah Martin | Ashton C. Shallenberger | ||
| 6 | Bert M. Taylor | January 28, 1910 | Pearl Taylor (sister in law) | |||
| 7 | Thomas Johnson | May 19, 1911 | Henry R. Frankland | Chester H. Aldrich | ||
| 8 | Albert Prince | March 21, 1913 | Nebraska State Penitentiary Deputy Warden Edward D.Davis | John H. Morehead | ||
| 9 | Allen V. Grammer | December 20, 1920 | Electrocution | Lulu Vogt (Allen Grammer's mother in law) | Samuel R. McKelvie | |
| 10 | Alson B. Cole | |||||
| 11 | James B. King | June 9, 1922 | Nebraska State Penitentiary prison guard Robert L. Taylor | |||
| 12 | Walter R. Simmons | August 11, 1925 | Frank Pahl | Adam McMullen | ||
| 13 | Henry E. Bartlett | April 29, 1927 | Asa Ranson (Minden, Nebraska Police Chief) | |||
| 14 | Frank Carter | June 24, 1927 | William McDevitt and Dr. A.D. Searles | |||
| 15 | Frank E. Sharp | October 19, 1928 | Hariet Sharp (his wife) | |||
| 16 | Henry Sherman | May 31, 1929 | Roger and Hattie Pochon, Eugenie Pochon | Arthur J. Weaver | ||
| 17 | Joseph T. MacAvoy | March 23, 1945 | Anna Milroy | Dwight Griswold | ||
| 18 | Timothy Iron Bear | December 1, 1948 | John W. and Grace Stollar | Val Peterson | ||
| 19 | Roland Dean Sundahl | April 30, 1952 | Bonnie Lou Merrill | |||
| 20 | Charles Starkweather | June 25, 1959 | Robert Jensen | Ralph G. Brooks | ||
| Allen Grammer and Alson Cole were the first men electrocuted, and the only double electrocution in Nebraska. Allen Grammer was the first man to be electrocuted by the State of Nebraska, pronounced dead at 3:24 pm. Alson Cole was pronounced dead at 3:37 pm. | |
| Although Charles Starkweather murdered 10 people in Nebraska (and one in Wyoming), he was tried, convicted, and executed for only one murder, that of 17-year-old Robert Jensen. |