Capital punishment in Nevada

A hanging that took place in Nevada. Hanging was the method used for most executions before that of Gee Jon in 1924.

Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in the U.S. state of Nevada. The first recorded execution in the area that is now Nevada was the hanging 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 May 12, 2013 there were 83 people on Death Row.

Elizabeth Potts, who was hanged in 1890, was the only woman legally executed in the state.^[1]

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 without parole, life imprisonment 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 without parole, life imprisonment 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^[2] or mentally retarded^[3] are constitutionally precluded from being executed.

Method

Andriza Mircovich was the only inmate in Nevada to be executed by shooting.

Hanging was the method prescribed by law from 1860 to 1921. The venue of executions moved from the counties to Nevada State Prison in 1903. In response to Mormon preferences,^[4] the Nevada State Legislature passed a statute in 1910 that became effective in January 1911,^[5] allowing condemned prisoners to choose between execution by shooting or hanging.^[6] On May 14, 1913, Andriza Mircovich became the only inmate in Nevada to be executed by shooting.^[7] After the warden of Nevada State Prison was unable to find five men to form a firing squad,^[8] a shooting machine was built to carry out Mircovich's execution.^[9] A law in 1921 replaced hanging with the gas chamber, which was used from the 1924 execution of Gee Jon to the 1979 execution of Jesse Bishop, both at Nevada State Prison. Lethal injection remains the sole method of execution in Nevada.

The men's death row in Nevada is located at Ely State Prison.^[10] The death row for women is in the Florence McClure Women's Correctional Center (previously Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Center).^[11]

Executions by the state of Nevada are still designated to be carried out at Nevada State Prison,^[12] in a former gas chamber. Due to a lack of elevator access this gas chamber is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Greg Cox, the director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, stated that he anticipated a legal challenge to carrying out the execution there if an execution date is set.^[13]

Capital offenses

• First Degree Murder
  • 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, kidnapping, arson, robbery, burglary, invasion of the home, sexual abuse of a child, sexual molestation of a child under the age of 14 years or child abuse.
  • Murder committed to avoid or prevent the lawful arrest of any person by a peace officer 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 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.
  • Murder committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an act of terrorism.
  • When these aggravating factors exist:
    • The murder was committed by a person under sentence of imprisonment.
    • 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 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, national origin, physical or mental disability, gender identity or expression 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 verdict of guilt is rendered or upon pronouncement of guilt by a judge or judges sitting without a jury.
    • 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 between 1861 and 1903

Between late 1861, when Nevada Territory was organized, and 1903, executions by hanging were conducted at the county seats in which the person was convicted.

There has not been a definitive compilation of legal executions conducted in Nevada prior to 1903, however there are 20 known legal executions between 1861 and 1903:^[14]

	Year	Date	Executed Person	County
1	1863	January 9	Allen Milstead	Dayton
2	1868	April 24	John Milleain (Millan, Millian, or Milliean)	Virginia City
3	1868	October 30	Rufus B. Anderson	Austin
4	1870	December 16	Ah Fung	Unionville
5	1870	December 16	Ah Ung	Unionville
6	1873	October 17	David M. Hall	Belmont
7	1874	April 24	John Stewart	Aurora
8	1874	December 29	John Murphy	Carson City (at the foot of Lone Mountain)
9	1877	January 19	Peter Larkin	Virginia City
10	1877	October 30	Robert Crozier	Winnemucca
11	1877	December 22	Sam Mills	Elko
12	1878	February 19	J. W. Rover	Reno
13	1880	April 6	Charles Wesley Hymer	Winnemucca
14	1882	February 9	Charley Hing	Winnemucca
15	1885	January 23	Indian Dave	Belmont
16	1886	March 5	Clarence Gray	Winnemucca
17	1886	December 31	Edward Crutchley	Hamilton
18	1890	June 20	Elizabeth Potts	Elko
19	1890	June 20	Josiah Potts	Elko
20	1890	December 12	Hank Parish	Ely

1903–1921: Individuals executed at the state capital (Carson City) and type of execution

The 1901 state legislature required that all executions be conducted at the State Prison in Carson City beginning in 1903.

The 1911 state legislature provided that a death row inmate could elect to die by shooting or hanging.

	Year	Date	Executed Person	Type of Execution
1	1905	September 8	John Hancock	Hanging
2	1905	November 17	Thomas F. Gorman	Hanging
3	1905	November 17	Al Linderman	Hanging
4	1905	November 17	Fred Reidt	Hanging
5	1905	November 17	John P. Sevener	Hanging
6	1906	December 7	Indian Johnny	Hanging
7	1906	December 7	Joe Ibapah	Hanging
8	1913	May 14	Andriza Mircovich	Firing Squad (Machine)

1921–1976: Nevada State Prison gas chamber

Prior to January 1, 1912 the law prescribed hanging as the means of carrying out the death sentence in the State of Nevada, however, upon revision of the statutes in 1911 the condemned were allowed a choice between the gallows and the firing squad. This remained the law until March 28, 1921 when an amendment was adopted providing for execution by means of lethal gas. Nevada was the first state to sanction the use of the gas chamber.

The first execution by use of lethal gas took place in February 1924 and has been used as the means of carrying out the death sentence a total of thirty-one times. The last execution was held October 22, 1979.^[15]

	Executed Person	Conviction	Date of Execution	Age at time of Execution
1	Gee Jon	convicted of killing Tom Quong Kee	Executed, February 8, 1924	Age 28
2	Stanko Jukich	convicted of killing of Jennie Medak	Executed, April 6, 1925	Age 29
3	Robert H. White	convicted of killing of Louis Laval	Executed, June 2, 1930	Age 41
4	Luis Ceja	convicted of killing Charlie Fong	Executed, September 4, 1931	Age 28
5	John Hall	convicted of killing John O'Brien	Executed, November 28, 1932	Age 52
6	Ray Elmer Miller	convicted of murdering his estranged wife	Executed, May 8, 1933	Age 34
7	Joseph Behiter	convicted of killing Sylvia Reither	Executed, July 13, 1934	Age 34
8	Luther Jones	convicted of killing four men after a hold-up	Executed, January 26, 1937	Age 33
9	Domenico Nadal	convicted of killing Joe Urrutia	Executed, January 17, 1939	Age 47
10	Burton Franklin Williamson	convicted of killing his wife, Mrs.Pauline Williamson	Executed, November 21, 1939	Age 43
11	Wilson Henry Boyd	convicted of killing Floyd Robinson and his wife	Executed, May 28, 1940
12	John A. Kramer	convicted of killing Frances Collins	Executed, August 28, 1942	Age 64
13	Floyd L. McKinney	convicted of killing Lieutenant and Mrs.Raymond Fisher	Executed, November 27, 1943	Age 34
14	Raymond Plunkett	convicted of killing his infant son	Executed, June 30, 1944	Age 31
15	Floyd Loveless	convicted of killing a policeman	Executed, September 29, 1944	Age 17
16	Albert Everette Sala	convicted of an Elko County murder	Executed, August 23, 1946	Age 35
17	Paul Maynard Skaug	convicted of killing Mrs. Marie Voss	Executed, January 10, 1947	Age 36
18	David Blackwell	convicted of killing two Reno police officers	Executed, April 22, 1949	Age 19
19	Laszlo Varga	convicted for the rape-slaying of Mrs.Rev.Morning	Executed, June 7, 1949	Age 24
20	Eugene Leo Gambetta	convicted of killing his former wife	Executed, October 18, 1949	Age 46
21	James Williams	convicted of killing a fellow worker	Executed, August 25, 1950	Age 32
22	Theodore William Gregory	convicted of killing his estranged wife	Executed, January 29, 1951	Age 46
23	Owen Caudle Butner	convicted of killing his former wife	Executed, February 10, 1951	Age 36
24	Gregorio Arellano	convicted of killing a high school girl	Executed, July 24, 1951
25	Domingo Echaverria	convicted of killing nurse Elizabeth Catlett	Executed, April 13, 1953	Age 62
26	Clayton Octave Fouquette	convicted of killing Donald Brown	Executed, April 13, 1953	Age 41
27	Ferdinand A. Bourdlais	convicted of killing Ward Budzien Sr	Executed, April 23, 1954	Age 27
28	Leroy L. Linden	convicted of killing Clarence Dodd	Executed, July 15, 1954	Age 33
29	Frank A. Pedrini	convicted of killing Clarence Dodd	Executed, July 15, 1954	Age 46
30	Earl Lewis Steward	convicted of killing Thomas Jessen	Executed, February 24, 1960	Age 42
31	Thayne H. Archibald	convicted of killing Albert Waters	Executed, August 21, 1961	Age 22
32	Jesse Walter Bishop	convicted of killing David Ballard	Executed, October 22, 1979	Age 46

List of individuals executed after 1976

A total of 12 individuals convicted of murder have been executed by the state of Nevada since 1976. The first execution was carried out by gas chamber; subsequent executions were carried out by lethal injection. All but one waived their appeals and asked that the execution be carried out.

	Executed person	Race	Date of execution	Victims	Governor
1	Jesse Bishop	White	October 22, 1979	David Ballard	Robert List
2	Carroll Cole	White	December 6, 1985	Marie Cushman	Richard Bryan
3	William Paul Thompson	White	June 19, 1989	Randy Waldron	Bob Miller
4	Sean Patrick Flanagan	White	June 23, 1989	Albert Duggens and James Lewandowski	Bob Miller
5	Thomas E. Baal	White	June 3, 1990	Frances Maves	Bob Miller
6	Richard Allen Moran	White	March 30, 1996	Sandra Devere, Russell Rhodes, and Linda VanderVoort	Bob Miller
7	Roderick Abeyta	Latino	October 5, 1998	Donna Martin	Bob Miller
8	Alvaro Calambro	Asian	April 5, 1999	Peggy Crawford and Keith Christopher	Kenny Guinn
9	Sebastian Stephanous Bridges	White	April 21, 2001	Hunter Blatchford	Kenny Guinn
10	Lawrence Colwell, Jr.	White	March 26, 2004	Frank Rosenstock	Kenny Guinn
11	Terry Jess Dennis	White	August 12, 2004	Ilona Straumanis	Kenny Guinn
12	Daryl Linnie Mack	Black	April 26, 2006	Betty Jane May	Kenny Guinn

See also

• Capital punishment in the United States
• List of wrongful convictions in the United States
• List of exonerated death row inmates
• List of death row inmates in the United States

References

1. Rutter, Michael (1 June 2008). Bedside Book of Bad Girls: Outlaw Women of the Old West. Farcountry Press. pp. 50–. ISBN 978-1-56037-462-6. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
2. Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005)
3. Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002)
4. Christianson, Scott (2010). The Last Gasp: The Rise and Fall of the American Gas Chamber. University of California Press. p. 62. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
5. "To Be Shot To Death.". The Montreal Gazette. June 17, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
6. Rocha, Guy Louis. "An Outline of Capital Punishment in Nevada". Nevada State Library and Archives. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
7. "Nevada State Prison Inmate Case Files: Andriza Mircovich". Nevada State Library and Archives. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
8. "No One To Shoot Murderer". The New York Times. August 12, 1912. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
9. Cafferata, Patty (June 2010). "Capital Punishment Nevada Style". Nevada Lawyer (State Bar of Nevada). Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
10. "NDOC: Ely State Prison". Nevada Department of Corrections. April 27, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
11. "Lone woman on Nevada's death row dies in prison." Associated Press at North County Times. January 31, 2005. Retrieved on September 5, 2010. See page in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, January 31, 2005, p. 10. Archived July 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
12. "NDOC: Organization". Nevada Department of Corrections. September 22, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
13. Whaley, Sean. "Nevada has 80 on death row, but no place to execute" (Archive). Las Vegas Review-Journal. April 11, 2015. Retrieved on March 24, 2016.
14. https://web.archive.org/web/20120906051053/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=960&Itemid=418
15. https://web.archive.org/web/20121101090134/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1539&Itemid=95

External links

• First Degree Murder
• Sentence of Death
• Nevada execution chamber