# In the USA, has a white person ever gotten the chair for killing a black person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2006, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210 "2006-08-18T11:37:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jean\_Poutine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a5b964/32.png) [@Jean\_Poutine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jean_Poutine)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/1 "2006-08-18T11:37:13Z")
That about sums it up- does anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/2 "2006-08-18T12:03:18Z")
[At least 20 times](http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions.php): > [@](#): > > 06 September 1991 Donald Gaskins 58 White 1, Black > SC S Electrocution White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 24 January 1995 Kermit Smith, Jr. 37 White 1, Black > NC S Lethal Injection White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 20 March 1995 Thomas Grasso 32 White 1, Black > OK S Lethal Injection Volunteer > White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 01 July 1995 Roger Dale Stafford 43 White 4, White > 1, Black > 1, Latino > OK S Lethal Injection > 06 December 1995 Robert O’Neal 44 White 1, Black > MO M Lethal Injection White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 06 June 1997 Henry Francis Hays 42 White 1, Black > AL S Electrocution White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 11 December 1997 Thomas Beaver 26 White 1, Black > VA S Lethal Injection White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 06 March 1998 John Arnold 43 White 1, Black > SC S Lethal Injection White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 10 July 1998 John Plath 43 White 1, Black > SC S Lethal Injection White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 25 September 1998 Sammy Roberts 40 White 2, White > 1, Black > SC S Lethal Injection > 22 January 1999 Joseph Atkins 51 White 1, Black > 1, White > SC S Lethal Injection > 28 April 1999 Eric Payne 26 White 1, White > 1, Black > VA S Lethal Injection Volunteer > > 06 July 1999 Gary Heidnick 55 White 2, Black > PA N Lethal Injection Volunteer > White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 08 July 1999 Norman Lee Newsted 45 White 1, Black > OK S Lethal Injection White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 21 July 1999 Thomas Strickler 33 White 1, Black > VA S Lethal Injection White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 11 June 2001 Timothy McVeigh 33 White 129, White > 32, Black > 5, Latino > 2, Native American > FED S Lethal Injection Volunteer > > 03 May 2002 Richard Johnson 39 White 1, Black > SC S Lethal Injection White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 10 September 2003 Larry Hayes 54 White 1, Black > 1, White > TX S Lethal Injection Volunteer > > 14 July 2006 William Downs 39 White 1, Black > SC S Lethal Injection Volunteer > White defendant executed for Black Victim > > 20 July 2006 Brandon Hedrick 27 White 1, Black > VA S Electrocution White defendant executed for Black Victim ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/3 "2006-08-18T12:04:36Z")
[This site](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/getexecdata.php) lists 20 since the reintroduction of the US death penalty in 1986. It lists 212 executions of blacks whose victims were white. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/4 "2006-08-18T12:05:51Z")
Er, 1976, not 1986. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/5 "2006-08-18T12:10:41Z")
And it appears that three on that list “got the chair”, so the answer is yes. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/6 "2006-08-18T12:28:38Z")
Your broader point, that black killers of white victims are far more likely to receive death sentences than with other race combinations, is supported by [this study](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=45&did=539), though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/7 "2006-08-18T12:48:51Z")
Kurt Vonnegut has pointed out in several of his novels that the city of Indianapolis was the first to hang a white man for killing an Indian. I don’t recall him saying when this occurred, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jean\_Poutine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a5b964/32.png) [@Jean\_Poutine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jean_Poutine)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/8 "2006-08-18T13:11:20Z")
Thanks for the info! Is there any way to tell how many of the 20 were not mass murderer or serial killer types, ala T. Mcveigh & G. Heidnik? In other words, are any of these examples ones where the executed killed only one person, who was black? ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/9 "2006-08-18T13:27:11Z")
[QUOTE=Jean Poutine] Thanks for the info! Is there any way to tell how many of the 20 were not mass murderer or serial killer types, ala T. Mcveigh & G. Heidnik? In other words, are any of these examples ones where the executed killed only one person, who was black? [/QUOTE] Gaskins - who was convicted and excuted only for killing a victim who was black person - was a mass murderer (He claimed to have killed 100 people - unverified) but Kermit White only killed Whelette Collins, (a 19-20 year old, reports vary, black cheerleader) [cite](http://www.iht.com/articles/1995/02/11/topics_11.php) Which says Smith was the 260th person executed since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty in 1976. Of the 260, he is the second white executed for killing a black. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/10 "2006-08-18T13:30:56Z")
[QUOTE=Jean Poutine] Thanks for the info! Is there any way to tell how many of the 20 were not mass murderer or serial killer types, ala T. Mcveigh & G. Heidnik? In other words, are any of these examples ones where the executed killed only one person, who was black? [/QUOTE] Look over **Fear Itself** ’s list. It contains both the number and race of victims. Only four of those were multiple murders. (And one of those four had black-only victims). ---
**Author:** ![Jean\_Poutine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a5b964/32.png) [@Jean\_Poutine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jean_Poutine)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/11 "2006-08-18T13:57:08Z")
Interesting! Which now brings up the question, does this mean that it is less common for whites to kill blacks than blacks to killk whites, or that the US law system punishes blacks disproportionately? ---
**Author:** ![Jean\_Poutine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a5b964/32.png) [@Jean\_Poutine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jean_Poutine)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/12 "2006-08-18T14:01:05Z")
Ignore my last question, **ElvisL1ves** read my mind and answered before I asked it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/13 "2006-08-18T14:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=Jean Poutine] In other words, are any of these examples ones where the executed killed only one person, who was black? [/QUOTE] I think that \*Jeane Poutine \* is asking a good question here- were there any people, who despite what they were convicted of, were executed when their only known murder was of a black person? So start with \*\*Fear itself’s \*\* excellent list – all these folks were white men executed at least partially for killing a black person (I missed 1 - not sure who) [My Source](http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/Pending/scheduled_executions.htm) On that list those executed that authorities knew certainly killed people of other races (11) Gaskins, McVay, Grasso, Stafford, Roberts, Atkins, Payne, Heidnick, Johnson, Hayes, Downs On that list those who were executed solely because their only known crime was killing a black person 7 Kermit Smith, Robert O’Neal (in jail for crimes against others BUT executed only for gang-murder in jail of a black inmate), Norman Lee Newsted, Thomas Strickler, Arnold/Path (2 white cousins, same murder, carved KKK into murdered black hitchhikers victim chest), Hedrick 1 I am not sure Thomas Beaver ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-usa-has-a-white-person-ever-gotten-the-chair-for-killing-a-black-person/369210/14 "2006-08-18T16:39:36Z")
They’re not dead yet, but both Lawrence Russel Brewer and John William King were sentenced to death for the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas. The third suspect, Shawn Allen Berry, was sentenced to life in prison.