Last hanging in the US

Factual Questions
1

I mentioned to a friend that Saddam was going to be hanged and added “They don’t seem to hang people much anymore…”

He tried to convince that they weren’t literally going to hang him. Somehow you can figuratively hang someone and just kill them.

Friend #2 says they still hang people in the US as capital punishment in some places. Not to mention that that’s how they executed war criminals after WW2.

Friend #1 says that a) no, people get to choose how they die when sentenced to death row (I say no, they’re senteced to death by___, no choice) and b) WW2 was 60 years ago, this is 2006 and they won’t do that anymore!

Anyway, I think Friend #1 is full of BS, can anyone help me find the last time someone in the US was hanged? And maybe proof that someone can’t figuratively be hanged?

2

Wikipedia’s article on hanging answers most of your questions.

Each state has its own laws regarding what can and can’t be done for executions. From the wikipedia link:

So, if you are in one of these states, you could choose hanging if you so desired.

I also recall a case a few years ago somewhere in the northeastern US (IIRC) where a man was able to choose between hanging and lethal injection. He chose hanging. The media went into a bit of a frenzy pointing out that no one had been hung in that state for quite some time, and they weren’t sure how to do it right, and that they were worried about popping his head off, etc. I don’t know if it was the media that affected the man’s decision or not, but he ended up switching to lethal injection before his date came up.

3

I have the vague unGoogled unsubstantiated notion that several states have more than one official method of putting someone to death, and that among these are a few states for which hanging is still officially on the books. (Also still in place in some states…Utah? … is firing squad; and electric chair also in one state or another, maybe?). But that doesn’t mean that the states in question have utilized all the official methods at their disposal in recent history. I haven’t heard of anyone being hung. Gas chamber and lethal injection are all the going thing these days, it seems.

4

Thanks engineer_comp_geek !

It didn’t say that you get to choose. I still want to say that you are sentenced to death by a certain method. I’m open to learn the contrary though.

5

I think I’ll let this swing awhile in GQ. Lemme pull the lever for ya’.

6

It varies from state to state. In some states the condemned may between methods of execution (e.g., lethal injection or electrocution); in others, those convicted of offenses committed before some date have the option of choosing the method of execution in place at the time of their conviction (electrocution, lethal gas) or lethal injection, while those sentenced after the cutoff date have no choice and are given lethal injection.

7

In United States federal law, treason is punishable by hanging, IIRC.

8

I remember the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westley_Allan_Dodd case. I remember “experts” saying that if one is sentenced to die, hanging is actually the best choice for the condemned.

Back in the “old days” measurements of weights and heights were sloppy. And people wanted their blood lust carried out. This led to corrupt hangmen allowing the condemned to strangle or be decapitated.

But when done correctly a hanged person dies instantly.

9

Then again, I remember a scene from Last Train from Gun Hill where Kirk Douglas describes to Earl Holliman, in vivid & gruesome detail, what it will be like to hang.:eek:

10

This sounds like Westley Allan Dodd’s case (see link provided by pkbites) except that he didn’t change his mind. I seem to remember that they had to import a hangman since they couldn’t find an experienced one locally.

11

Actually, IIRC, that case was in New Hampshire. I believe they did go to injection on it.

The Dodd case was in Washington. I believe Dodd insisted on hanging because he had strangled some of his victims, and wanted to suffer the same fate.

All from memory though.

12

In Washington state, the condemned gets to choose between hanging and lethal injection. If the prisoner won’t choose (one claimed some time ago that choosing his method of death would violate his religious beliefs), then the default method is lethal injection.

13

Nope; treason isn’t even an automatic death penalty (by any method), and although it can be punishable by death, no method is specified in the statute:

14

New Hampshire hasn’t executed anybody since 1939. That may soon change. The Attorney General has indicated that she intends to pursue the death penalty against accused cop-killer Michael Addison.

15

According to this article, the last hangings in the state of Kansas were in 1965. This article discusses the 1965 hangings of the two men involved in the Clutter family murders in Holcomb (“In Cold Blood”), but I can’t find anything that specifically states whether those hangings were the last or not.

16

Delaware holds first hanging since 1946 (1996).

17

http://www.state.de.us/correct/information/deathrow_factsheet.shtml

18

Looks like Steven W. Shelton could still choose hanging, http://www.state.de.us/correct/information/deathrow.shtml, which would make him the last in the U.S. unless New Hampshire is unable to execute by lethal injection for whatever reason. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245#state

19

So…

…Bill Bailey finally did go home, then?

20

Victor Feguer was hanged in Iowa’s Fort Madison state pen in 1963. This was Iowa’s last execution (the death pentalty was abolished in the state in 1965), and also the last federal execution until the McVeigh execution 38 years later.

Iowa had always used the gallows.