List of individuals executed in Nevada

Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment

Punishment

Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....

in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

of Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. The first recorded execution

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

in the area that is now Nevada

Nevada

was the hanging

Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

of John Carr for murdering Bernhard Cherry of Carson City on November 30, 1860 and the first record execution in the Nevada Territory was the hanging of Allen Milstead outside Dayton for killing Lyon County Commissioner T. Varney at Ragtown. These were the first of 60 executions from 1860 to the present. Since 1976, 12 people have been executed by the state. As of November 8, 2007 there are 88 people on Death Row

Death row

Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...

Process

The jury decides the sentence in a capital cases. It decides if aggravating and mitigating circumstances raised by the prosecution and defense are true. If aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, the sentences that could be made include death, life imprisonment

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

without parole, life imprisonment

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

with parole in twenty years at a minimum or imprisonment for fifty years with parole in twenty years at a minimum. The amount of aggravating circumstances and the amount of mitigating circumstances equal, if no mitigating or aggravating circumstances exist or mitigating circumstances outweigh aggravating circumstances, the sentences that could be made include death, life imprisonment

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

without parole, life imprisonment

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

with parole in twenty years at a minimum or imprisonment for fifty years with parole in twenty years at a minimum. The Governor of Nevada sits on a board that determines clemency.

As in any other state, people who are under 18 at the time of commission of the capital crime or mentally retarded are constitutionally precluded from being executed.

Method

Hanging was the method prescribed by law from 1860 to 1921. The venue of executions moved from the counties to Nevada State Prison

Nevada State Prison

Nevada State Prison is a penitentiary located in Carson City. The prison has been in continuous operation since it was established in 1862 and is managed by the Nevada Department of Corrections. It is one of the oldest prisons still operating in the United States. The high security facility housed...

in 1903. In response to Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

preferences, the Nevada State Legislature passed a statute in 1910 that became effective in January 1911, allowing condemned prisoners to choose between execution by shooting

Execution by shooting

Execution by shooting is a form of capital punishment whereby an executed person is shot by one or more firearms. It is the most common method of execution worldwide, used in about 70 countries, with execution by firing squad being one particular form...

or hanging. On May 14, 1913, Andriza Mircovich

Andriza Mircovich

Andriza Mircovich was an Austro-Hungarian national of Montenegrin descent. He was the first and only prisoner ever to be executed by shooting in the state of Nevada. He had been sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of John Gregovich in Tonopah, Nevada...

became the first and only inmate in Nevada to be executed by shooting. After the warden of Nevada State Prison was unable to find five men to form a firing squad

Execution by firing squad

Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...

, a shooting machine was built to carry out Mircovich's execution. A law in 1921 replaced hanging with the gas chamber

Gas chamber

A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...

, which was used from the 1924 execution of Gee Jon

Gee Jon

Gee Jon was a Chinese national who was the first person in the United States to be executed by lethal gas. A member of the Hip Sing Tong criminal society from San Francisco, California, Gee was sentenced to death for the murder of an elderly member from another gang in Nevada...

to the 1979 execution of Jesse Bishop

Jesse Bishop

Jesse Walter Bishop was convicted of the murder of David Ballard, aged 22.In 1977, Bishop was in the process of robbing El Morocco Casino, a Las Vegas Strip casino, when he was interrupted by Ballard, who had left his nearby wedding reception to intervene...

, both at Nevada State Prison. Lethal injection remains the sole method of execution in Nevada.

Death row

Death row

in Nevada is located at Ely State Prison

Ely State Prison

Ely State Prison is a maximum security penitentiary located in unincorporated White Pine County, Nevada, north of Ely. The facility, operated by the Nevada Department of Corrections, opened in July 1989. Phase I was completed and opened in August of that year. Phase II was completed in the month of...

. Executions by the state of Nevada are still carried out at Nevada State Prison.

Capital offenses

First Degree Murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
- Murder perpetrated by means of poison, lying in wait or torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing.
- Murder committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of sexual assault
  Sexual assault
  Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
  
  , kidnapping
  Kidnapping
  In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
  
  , arson
  Arson
  Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
  
  , robbery
  Robbery
  Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
  
  , burglary
  Burglary
  Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
  
  , invasion of the home, sexual abuse of a child, sexual molestation of a child under the age of 14 years or child abuse
  Child abuse
  Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
  
  .
- Murder committed to avoid or prevent the lawful arrest
  Arrest
  An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
  
  of any person by a peace officer
  Peace officer
  A law enforcement officer , in North America, is any public-sector employee or agent whose duties involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include police officers, prison officers, customs officers, immigration officers, bailiffs, probation officers, parole officers, auxiliary officers, and...
  
  or to effect the escape of any person from legal custody.
- Murder committed on the property of a public or private school, at an activity sponsored by a public or private school or on a school bus
  School bus
  A school bus is a type of bus designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying children and teenagers to and from school and school events...
  
  while the bus was engaged in its official duties by a person who intended to create a great risk of death or substantial bodily harm to more than one person by means of a weapon
  Weapon
  A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
  
  , device or course of action that would normally be hazardous to the lives of more than one person.
- Murder committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an act of terrorism
  Terrorism
  Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
  
  .
  - When these aggravating factors exist:
    - The murder was committed by a person under sentence of imprisonment
      Imprisonment
      Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....
      
      .
    - The murder was committed by a person who, at any time before a penalty hearing is conducted for the murder pursuant to NRS 175.552, is or has been convicted of:
      - Another murder and the provisions of subsection 12 do not otherwise apply to that other murder; or
      - A felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another and the provisions of subsection 4 do not otherwise apply to that felony.
    - The murder was committed by a person who knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person by means of a weapon, device or course of action which would normally be hazardous to the lives of more than one person.
    - The murder was committed while the person was engaged, alone or with others, in the commission of, or an attempt to commit or flight after committing or attempting to commit, any robbery, arson in the first degree, burglary, invasion of the home or kidnapping in the first degree, and the person charged:
      - Killed or attempted to kill the person murdered; or
      - Knew or had reason to know that life would be taken or lethal force used.
    - The murder was committed to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest or to effect an escape from custody.
    - The murder was committed by a person, for himself or another, to receive money or any other thing of monetary value.
    - The murder was committed upon a peace officer or firefighter who was killed while engaged in the performance of his official duty or because of an act performed in his official capacity, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known that the victim was a peace officer or firefighter. For the purposes of this subsection, "peace officer" means:
      - An employee of the Department of Corrections
        Department of Corrections
        A Department of Corrections is a governmental agency responsible for overseeing the incarceration of persons convicted of crimes within a particular jurisdiction. Entities serving that purpose include:* Department of Corrections...
        
        who does not exercise general control over offenders imprisoned within the institutions and facilities of the Department, but whose normal duties require him to come into contact with those offenders when carrying out the duties prescribed by the Director of the Department.
      - Any person upon whom some or all of the powers of a peace officer are conferred pursuant to NRS 289.150 to 289.360, inclusive, when carrying out those powers.
    - The murder involved torture or the mutilation of the victim.
    - The murder was committed upon one or more persons at random and without apparent motive.
    - The murder was committed upon a person less than 14 years of age.
    - The murder was committed upon a person because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion
      Religion
      Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
      
      , national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation of that person.
    - The defendant has, in the immediate proceeding, been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the first or second degree. For the purposes of this subsection, a person shall be deemed to have been convicted of a murder at the time the jury
      Jury
      A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
      
      verdict of guilt is rendered or upon pronouncement of guilt by a judge
      Judge
      A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
      
      or judges sitting without a jury
      Jury
      A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
      
      .
    - The person, alone or with others, subjected or attempted to subject the victim of the murder to nonconsensual sexual penetration immediately before, during or immediately after the commission of the murder. For the purposes of this subsection:
      - "Nonconsensual" means against the victim’s will or under conditions in which the person knows or reasonably should know that the victim is mentally or physically incapable of resisting, consenting or understanding the nature of his conduct, including, but not limited to, conditions in which the person knows or reasonably should know that the victim is dead.
      - "Sexual penetration" means cunnilingus, fellatio or any intrusion, however slight, of any part of the victim’s body or any object manipulated or inserted by a person, alone or with others, into the genital or anal openings of the body of the victim, whether or not the victim is alive. The term includes, but is not limited to, anal intercourse and sexual intercourse in what would be its ordinary meaning.
    - The murder was committed on the property of a public or private school, at an activity sponsored by a public or private school or on a school bus while the bus was engaged in its official duties by a person who intended to create a great risk of death or substantial bodily harm to more than one person by means of a weapon, device or course of action that would normally be hazardous to the lives of more than one person. For the purposes of this subsection, "school bus" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 483.160.
    - The murder was committed with the intent to commit, cause, aid, further or conceal an act of terrorism. For the purposes of this subsection, "act of terrorism" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 202.4415.

List of individuals executed after 1976

A total of 12 individuals convicted of murder have been executed by the state of Nevada

Nevada

since 1976. All were by lethal injection

Lethal injection

Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...

except those indicated by a * which were performed by using a gas chamber

Gas chamber

. All but one waived their appeals and asked that the execution be carried out.

	Executed person	Date of execution	Victims	Governor
1	Jesse Bishop Jesse Bishop Jesse Walter Bishop was convicted of the murder of David Ballard, aged 22.In 1977, Bishop was in the process of robbing El Morocco Casino, a Las Vegas Strip casino, when he was interrupted by Ballard, who had left his nearby wedding reception to intervene... *	October 22, 1979	David Ballard	Robert List Robert List Robert Frank "Bob" List is an American politician. He served as the 24th Governor of Nevada from 1979 to 1983. He was raised in Exeter, California. He served as the Carson City District Attorney and the Nevada Attorney General before becoming Governor. Currently List practices law in Las Vegas...
2	Carroll Cole Carroll Cole Carroll Edward Cole , was an American serial killer who was executed in 1985.-Early life:Carroll Cole was born in Sioux City, Iowa. While his father went to fight in World War II, Cole was taken along by his mother and forced to watch as she had sexual encounters with men. She would often beat him...	December 6, 1985	Marie Cushman	Richard Bryan Richard Bryan Richard Hudson "Dick" Bryan is an American politician. He served as the 25th Governor of the U.S. state of Nevada from 1983 to 1989. He is a former United States Senator from Nevada. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
3	William Paul Thompson	June 19, 1989	Randy Waldron	Bob Miller Bob Miller (Nevada governor) Robert Joseph "Bob" Miller is an American politician. He was the 26th Governor of the U.S. state of Nevada from 1989 to 1999. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
4	Sean Patrick Flannagan	June 23, 1989	Albert Duggens and James Lewandowski	Bob Miller
5	Thomas E. Baal	June 3, 1990	Frances Maves	Bob Miller
6	Richard Allen Moran	March 30, 1996	Sandra Devere, Russell Rhodes, and Linda VanderVoort	Bob Miller
7	Roderick Abetya	October 5, 1998	Donna Martin	Bob Miller
8	Alvaro Calambro	April 5, 1999	Peggy Crawford and Keith Christopher	Kenny Guinn Kenny Guinn Kenneth Carroll "Kenny" Guinn was an American businessman, educator and politician. He was the 27th Governor of Nevada from 1999 to 2007. He was a member of the Republican Party and a former member of the Democratic Party....
9	Sebastian Stephanous Bridges	April 21, 2001	Hunter Blatchford	Kenny Guinn
10	Lawrence Colwell, Jr. Lawrence Colwell, Jr. Lawrence Colwell, Jr., a 35-year-old white male, was voluntarily executed by lethal injection at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, Nevada on March 26, 2004. Colwell was found guilty of the 1994 murder of Frank Rosenstock, a 76-year-old white male. Colwell, who was 25-years old when he...	March 26, 2004	Frank Rosenstock	Kenny Guinn
11	Terry Jess Dennis Terry Jess Dennis Terry Jess Dennis, an inmate of the Nevada State Prison, was one of those voluntarily executed by lethal injection at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, Nevada on August 12, 2004, at the age of 57. Dennis was found guilty of the 1999 murder of Ilona Straumanis, a 51 year old. Dennis, who was...	August 12, 2004	Ilona Straumanis	Kenny Guinn
12	Daryl Linnie Mack Daryl Linnie Mack Daryl Linnie Mack, a 47 year-old black male, was voluntarily executed by lethal injection at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, Nevada on April 26, 2006. Mack was found guilty of the 1988 murder of Betty Jane May, a 55 year-old white female. Mack, who was 30 years old when he committed the...	April 26, 2006	Betty Jane May	Kenny Guinn

External links

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