Executions and Stays 2018
62 execution dates were scheduled in 11 states in 2018.
There were 25 executions carried out in 8 states.
Courts stayed 17 executions.
3 executions were halted by commutation.
Governors issued reprieves that halted 3 other executions.
1 failed execution was halted when execution personnel were unable to set an IV line.
13 executions were rescheduled.
| Date of Scheduled Execution | State | Prisoner | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | |||
| 2 | PA | Sheldon Hannibal | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on November 9, 2017 to provide Hannibal the opportunity to pursue federal habeas corpus challenges to his conviction and sentence that are available to all criminal defendants. |
| 3 | OH | John Stumpf | Reprieve granted by Gov. John Kasich on May 1, 2017 and execution rescheduled for November 14, 2018.* |
| 3 | OH | William Montgomery | Rescheduled for April 11, 2018 by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017.^ |
| 18 | TX | Anthony Shore | Executed |
| 25 | AL | Vernon Madison | Stay granted by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 25, pending resolution of his petition for writ of certiorari on the question of whether he is competent to be executed. |
| 30 | TX | William Rayford | Executed |
| JANUARY 2018 | 6 executions scheduled in 4 states | 2 executions carried out; 2 executions halted by stays of execution; 2 executions rescheduled | |
| February | |||
| 1 | TX | John Battaglia | Executed |
| 13 | OH | Warren K. Henness | Rescheduled for March 14, 2018 by Gov. John Kasich on May 1, 2017.* |
| 13 | OH | Robert Van Hook | Rescheduled for July 18, 2018 by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017.^ |
| 13 | OH | Raymond Tibbetts | Reprieve issued until October 17, 2018, by Gov. John Kasich on February 8, 2018. Gov. Kasich sent a letter to the Ohio Parole Board Chair asking the Board to reconsider Tibbetts’s request for clemency in light of new evidence that one of the jurors would not have voted for death had he known the information that was presented at the clemency hearing. |
| 22 | AL | Doyle Lee Hamm | Execution halted by Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn shortly before midnight (Central Time) on February 22, 2018 when the execution team reported that it would not be able to set an IV line before the death warrant expired. A stay had been granted in an oral order by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on January 31, 2018 to permit litigation of the claim that subjecting Hamm—who has two forms of cancer that he said compromised vein access—to lethal injection would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Stay vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on February 13. |
| 22 | TX | Thomas Whitaker | Commutation granted. On February 20, the Texas Pardons Board unanimously recommended that Governor Greg Abbott commute Thomas “Bart” Whitaker’s death sentence to life without parole. Governor Abbott formally issued the commutation about 1/2-hour before the execution was scheduled to occur on February 22. |
| 22 | FL | Eric Branch | Executed. |
| 23 | PA | Raghunandan Yandamuri | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on January 16, 2018 to provide Yandamuri the opportunity to pursue state and federal post-conviction challenges to his conviction and sentence that are available to all criminal defendants. |
| FEBRUARY 2018 | 8 executions scheduled in 5 states | 2 executions carried out; 1 failed execution; 1 execution halted by commutation; 1 execution halted by reprieve; 1 execution halted by stay of execution; 2 executions rescheduled | |
| March | |||
| 9 | PA | Charles Ray Hicks | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas on February 12, 2018 to provide Hicks the opportunity to pursue state post-conviction challenges that are available to all Pensylvania criminal defendants. |
| 14 | OH | Douglas Coley | Rescheduled for September 18, 2019 by Gov. John Kasich on May 1, 2017* |
| 14 | OH | Warren K. Hennes | Rescheduled for February 13, 2019 by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017.^ |
| 15 | AL | Michael Eggers | Executed |
| 15 | GA | Carlton Michael Gary | Executed |
| 20 | MO | Russell Bucklew | Stay granted by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 20, 2018, pending resolution of his petition for writ of certiorari on the question of whether his medical condition makes it unconstituionally cruel to execute him by means of lethal injection. |
| 27 | TX | Rosendo Rodriguez | Executed |
| MARCH 2018 | 7 executions scheduled in 6 states | 3 executions; 2 executions halted by stay of execution; 2 executions rescheduled | |
| April | |||
| 11 | OH | Melvin Bonnell | Rescheduled for February 12, 2020 by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017.^ |
| 11 | OH | William Montgomery | Commutation granted. On March 16, the Ohio Board of Pardons voted 6-4 to recommend that Montgomery’s death sentence be commuted by Ohio Governor John Kasich. Gov. Kasich commuted Montgomery’s death sentence to life without parole on March, 26, 2018. |
| 19 | AL | Walter Moody | Executed |
| 25 | TX | Erick Davila | Executed |
| APRIL 2018 | 4 executions scheduled in 3 states | 2 executions; 1 execution halted by commutation; 1 execution rescheduled | |
| May | |||
| 3 | GA | Robert Earl Butts, Jr. | Executed. Stay granted by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on May 2, 2018 to provide the Board additional time to consider Butts’s petition for clemency. The Board lifted the stay and denied clemency on May 3 and the execution was rescheduled for, and carried out on, May 4. |
| 7 | PA | Marcel Johnson | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas on March 28, 2018 to provide Johnson the opportunity to pursue state post-conviction challenges that are available to all Pensylvania criminal defendants. |
| 9 | TN | James Hawkins | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted on April 11, 2018 to provide Hawkins the opportunity to pursue state post-conviction challenges that are available to all Tennessee criminal defendants. |
| 16 | TX | Juan Castillo | Executed |
| 30 | OH | Stanley Fitzpatrick | Rescheduled |
| MAY 2018 | 5 executions scheduled in 5 states | 2 executions; 2 executions stayed; 1 execution rescheduled | |
| June | |||
| 21 | TX | Clifton Williams | Stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on June 5, 2018 to permit Williams to re-litigate his claim of intellectual disability under Moore v. Texas. The Texas courts had previously denied his claim, applying the “Briseno factors” that were declared unconstitutional in Moore. |
| 27 | OH | Angelo Fears | Rescheduled for October 17, 2019 by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017.^ |
| 27 | TX | Danny Bible | Executed |
| JUNE 2018 | 3 executions scheduled in two states | 1 execution; 1 execution stayed; 1 execution rescheduled | |
| July | |||
| 11 | NV | Scott Dozier | Temporary restraining order granted by the Clark County District Court on July 11, 2018 barring Nevada from using midazolam manufactured by Alvogen Pharmaceuticals in any execution. Stay granted by the Clark County District Court on July 11. |
| 17 | TX | Christopher Young | Executed |
| 18 | OH | Robert Van Hook | Executed |
| JULY 2018 | 3 executions scheduled in three states | 2 executions; 1 execution stayed | |
| August | |||
| 1 | OH | David A. Sneed | Rescheduled for December 9, 2020 by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017.^ |
| 9 | TN | Billy Ray Irick | Executed |
| 14 | NE | Carey Dean Moore | Executed |
| 14 | FL | Jose Antonio Jimenez | Stay granted by the Florida Supreme Court on August 10, 2018. |
| 30 | TX | Joseph Garcia | Rescheduled for December 4, 2018. |
| AUGUST 2018 | 5 executions scheduled in 5 states | 2 executions; 1 execution stayed; 2 executions rescheduled | |
| September | |||
| 12 | TX | Gutierrez, Ruben | Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on August 22, 2018 to provide newly appointed counsel time to investigate the case and “to preserve Gutierrez’s right to meaningful and effective legal representation.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the stay on September 10, leaving it in effect for 90 days after the date on which new habeas counsel was first appointed. |
| 13 | OH | Cleveland R. Jackson | Reprieve issued by Governor John Kasich on July 20, 2018 and execution rescheduled for May 29, 2019. |
| 13 | OH | Shawn Grate | Legally premature warrant. Execution of the death warrant stayed by operation of law (Ohio Rev. Code sec. 2953.09) when Grate filed a notice of appeal on July 19 to permit him to pursue direct appeal remedies that are available to all Ohio capital defendants as of right. |
| 26 | TX | Troy Clark | Executed |
| 27 | TX | Daniel Acker | Executed |
| SEPTEMBER 2018 | 5 executions scheduled in 2 states | 2 executions; 2 executions stayed; 1 execution halted by reprieve. | |
| October | |||
| 10 | OH | James Derrick O’Neal | Rescheduled for February 21, 2021 by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017.^ |
| 10 | TX | Juan Segundo | Stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on October 5, 2018 to permit Segundo to re-litigate his claim of intellectual disability under Moore v. Texas. The Texas courts had previously denied his claim, applying the “Briseno factors” that were declared unconstitutional in Moore. |
| 11 | TN | Edmund Zagorski | Reprieve granted by Governor Bill Haslam on October 11, to last until October 21. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit had granted a stay of execution on October 10 to permit Zagorski to pursue an appeal of a district court’s decision denying a motion to reopen his case to consider a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. The U.S. Supreme Court vacated that stay on October 12. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued a temporary restraining order on October 11 to permit full consideration of Zagorski’s civil rights action to bar the use of Tennessee’s lethal-injection protocol in his execution. That order is subject to appeal, but will be rendered moot if Tennessee carries out the execution by electrocution. New death warrant issued October 22, 2018. |
| 17 | OH | Raymond Tibbetts | Commutation granted. On July 20, Gov. John Kasich commuted Tibbetts’s death sentence to life without parole. On February 8, 2018, Gov. Kasich had issued a reprieve until October 17, 2018 and sent a letter to the Ohio Parole Board Chair directing the Board to reconsider Tibbetts’s request for clemency in light of new evidence that one of the jurors would not have voted for death had he known the information that was presented at the clemency hearing. After that hearing, the Ohio Parole Board voted 7-1 against recommending clemency. |
| 24 | TX | Kwame Rockwell | Stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on October 19, 2018 to permit Rockwell to obtain mental health evaluations and present evidence of his possible incompetency to be executed. Three judges dissented from the grant of the stay. |
| 29 | SD | Rodney Berget | Executed. |
| OCTOBER 2018 | 6 executions scheduled in 4 states | 1 execution; 2 executions stayed; 1 execution halted by commutation; 1 execution halted by reprieve; 1 execution rescheduled. | |
| November | |||
| 1 | TN | Edmund Zagorski | Executed. |
| 6 | OH | Lance Hundley | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the Ohio Supreme Court on September 12, 2018, pending completion of direct appeal proceedings to which all defendants are entitled as a matter of Ohio law. |
| 7 | TX | Emanuel Kemp | Stay granted, warrant withdrawn by Tarrant County District Court on October 8, 2018, to permit DNA testing. |
| 14 | OH | John David Stumpf | Reprieve granted by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017 and execution rescheduled for April 16, 2020.^ |
| 14 | TX | Roberto Moreno Ramos | Executed. |
| 28 | TN | Sedrick Clayton | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted on November 1, 2018 to provide Clayton the opportunity to pursue state post-conviction challenges that are available to all Tennessee criminal defendants. |
| NOVEMBER 2018 | 6 executions scheduled in 3 states | 2 executions; 3 executions stayed; 1 execution rescheduled | |
| December | |||
| 4 | TX | Joseph Garcia | Executed |
| 6 | TN | David Earl Miller | Executed |
| 11 | TX | Alvin Braziel | Executed |
| 13 | FL | Jose Jimenez | Executed |
| DECEMBER 2018 | 4 executions scheduled in 3 states | 4 executions | |
* On May 1, 2017 Governor Kasich issued a statement revising Ohio’s execution schedule for nine upcoming executions. This revised schedule was in response to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s order setting a briefing schedule for the Court’s en banc rehearing of the state’s appeal of a federal magistrate judge’s order issuing a preliminary injunction barring Ohio from carrying out 3-drug executions using midazolam or any execution using a paralytic agent or potassium chloride.
^ On September 1, 2017, Ohio’s Governor Kasich issued a statement and an updated execution schedule, which changed the execution dates for 19 of 26 condemned prisoners who had scheduled dates between September 2017 and September 2020. The execution schedule for these 26 prisoners now extends through April 2022.
“Volunteer” refers to prisoners who have voluntarily waived their normal appeals (not necessarily that they have volunteered for execution).
