Executions Overview

Execution Volunteers

Last Updated April 25, 2025
 

The fol­low­ing is a list of exe­cu­tion ​“vol­un­teers” — those indi­vid­u­als who waived at least part of their ordi­nary appeals or who ter­mi­nat­ed pro­ceed­ings that would have enti­tled them to addi­tion­al process pri­or to their exe­cu­tion. Since the rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty in 1976 through to the date below, at least 165 defen­dants have been vol­un­teers — approx­i­mate­ly ten per­cent of all executions.

Volunteers have had an out­sized impact on exe­cu­tions across the nation. Utah death-row pris­on­er Gary Gilmore waived his appeal rights and on January 17, 1977 became the first per­son to be exe­cut­ed in the United States fol­low­ing the Supreme Court’s 1976 rul­ing in Gregg v. Georgia uphold­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Four of the first five pris­on­ers exe­cut­ed after Gregg were vol­un­teers, and vol­un­teers were the first to be exe­cut­ed in 15 states and by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment.1 In four states — Connecticut, New Mexico, Oregon, and Pennsylvania — the only pris­on­ers exe­cut­ed have been volunteers.

Mississippi exe­cut­ed David Cox on November 17, 2021, mark­ing the sixth time a state has restart­ed exe­cu­tions after a pause of at least five years by acced­ing to the wish­es of a vol­un­teer. Exe­cu­tions of vol­un­teers end­ed exe­cu­tion paus­es of 5 years and 6 years in South Dakota, 7 years in Louisiana, 9 years in Kentucky, and more than 20 years in Nebraska.

In 2018, Scott Dozier was per­mit­ted to waive his appeals and attempt­ed to force Nevada to put him to death. He would have been the first exe­cu­tion in the state in more than 12 years. However, his exe­cu­tion was halt­ed when a state court barred the Nevada Department of Corrections from using drugs obtained in ​“bad faith” and ​“by sub­terfuge”, and he sub­se­quent­ly hanged him­self in prison.

1. Volunteers were the first indi­vid­u­als exe­cut­ed in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Washington and by the federal government.

DefendantYear of ExecutionStateSource of Volunteer Status*
James Osgood2025AL““I know longer feel as if I’m even exist­ing. I’m tired. I want to com­plete my sen­tence,” Osgood wrote in a let­ter to his attor­ney last July. The let­ter was includ­ed in court fil­ings about his request to drop his appeal. He also thanked his attor­ney for her work on his case.” (Alabama to exe­cute inmate who dropped appeals and asked for death, AP, March 14, 2025)
Aaron Gunches2025AZ“In a hand­writ­ten court fil­ing this week, Gunches asked the state Supreme Court to sched­ule his exe­cu­tion for mid-February for his mur­der con­vic­tion in the 2002 killing of Ted Price.” (An Arizona pris­on­er is ask­ing to be exe­cut­ed soon­er than the state wants, AP, January 3, 2025)
Derrick Dearman2024AL“[H]e gave up his appeals ear­li­er this year. ​‘I am will­ing­ly giv­ing all that I can pos­si­bly give to try and repay a small por­tion of my debt to soci­ety for the ter­ri­ble things that I have done,’ Dearman said in a state­ment released […] by his spir­i­tu­al advi­sor.” (Ivana Hrynkiw, AL​.com, October 17, 2024)
Travis Mullis2024TX“A Texas man who had waived his right to appeal his death sen­tence received a lethal injec­tion Tuesday evening…He added that while he ​‘took the legal steps to expe­dite to include assist­ed sui­cide, I don’t regret this deci­sion, to legal­ly expe­dite this process.’ ” (Juan A. Lozano and Michael Graczyk, Texas man who waived his right to appeal death sen­tence is exe­cut­ed for killing infant son, AP, September 24, 2024)
James Barnes2023FL“Barnes moved to dis­charge his lawyers, waive all appeals and future motions, and pro­ceed with his exe­cu­tion.” (Jean Gonzalez, Death row pris­on­er waives appeals, exe­cu­tion to hap­pen Aug. 3, The Florida Catholic, July 13, 2023)
David Cox2021MS“Cox wrote to the chief jus­tice of Mississippi Supreme Court in August 2018 say­ing he want­ed to fire his lawyers, relin­quish all appeals and have the state Supreme Court set his exe­cu­tion date. In the rul­ing Thursday, jus­tices wrote that in November 2018, Cox filed court papers say­ing ​‘I am wor­thy of death’ and ask­ing to be exe­cut­ed.” (Emily Wagster Pettus, Mississippi sets date for state’s 1st exe­cu­tion since 2012, Associated Press, November 17, 2021)
Justen Hall2019TX“Hall stat­ed he was com­pe­tent to rep­re­sent him­self … [and] asked courts to waive his appeals and sched­ule an exe­cu­tion date. ​‘I do not like the per­son I have become, and I need to be put down like the rabid dog that I am,’ he wrote to a tri­al judge on Oct. 6, 2016.” (Davis Rich, Texas exe­cutes Justen Hall for mur­der of woman in El Paso, Texas Tribune, November 6, 2019.)
Rodney Berget2018SD“Berget sent a let­ter to Judge Douglas Hoffman in August 2016. It said that he want­ed to drop his appeals.” (Liliana Segura, RODNEY BERGET SAYS HE WANTS TO DIE. SOUTH DAKOTA PLANS TO KILL HIM. BUT EXPERTS SAY HIS EXECUTION WOULD VIOLATE THE LAW., The Intercept, October 28, 2018.)
Carey Dean Moore2018NE“ ​‘Yes, I have decid­ed to stop fight­ing in the Supreme Courts; in fact I stopped this years ago. As to why, that is per­son­al,’ [Moore] wrote in answer to a series of ques­tions.” (Joe Duggan, Nebraska is mov­ing clos­er to its 1st lethal injec­tion, but tim­ing is up to court, Omaha World-Herald, April 30, 2018.)
Michael Eggers2018AL“In 2016, the inmate said he wished to expe­dite his exe­cu­tion date and fired his attor­neys from the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Montgomery.” (Ivana Hrynkiw, Michael Eggers exe­cut­ed Thursday for slay­ing of Talladega woman in 2000, AL​.com, March 15, 2018.)
Steven Spears2016GA“Other than an auto­mat­ic appeal that was filed after his con­vic­tion, Spears stead­fast­ly refused to let lawyers chal­lenge his sen­tence. Even at tri­al, he would not autho­rize his lawyers to present evi­dence that might have per­suad­ed the Lumpkin County jury to vote for a life sen­tence.” (R. Cook, Georgia exe­cutes Steven Spears for 2001 mur­der, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Nov. 16, 2016.)
Barney Fuller2016TX“Barney Fuller Jr., 58, had asked that all his appeals be dropped to expe­dite his death sen­tence.” (Associated Press, Texas killer Barney Fuller Jr., who asked to be exe­cut­ed, is put to death, Oct. 6, 2016.)
Daniel Lopez2015TX“Lopez, who also wrote let­ters to a fed­er­al judge and plead­ed for his exe­cu­tion to move for­ward, said last week from death row that a Supreme Court reprieve would be ​“dis­ap­point­ing.”
Jerry Martin2013TX“A senior dis­trict judge grant­ed Martin’s request to waive his right to appeal his con­vic­tion in June.” (C. Stark, Man exe­cut­ed for TDCJ officer’s death, The Huntsville Item, Dec. 3, 2013.)
Andrew Lackey2013AL“(Lackey) had pre­vi­ous­ly dropped his appeals and court records show he did noth­ing recent­ly to try to block the exe­cu­tion from being carried out.”
Robert Gleason2013VA“Gleason already is serv­ing a life sen­tence for killing anoth­er man. He fired his lawyers last month — they were try­ing to work out a deal to keep him from get­ting the death penal­ty — so he could plead guilty to cap­i­tal mur­der. He’s vowed not to appeal his sen­tence if the judge sen­tences him to death.”
Eric Robert2012SD“He plead­ed guilty to Johnson’s slay­ing and asked to be sen­tenced to death, telling a judge last October that he would oth­er­wise kill again. He nev­er appealed his sen­tence and even tried to bypass a manda­to­ry state review in hopes of expe­dit­ing his death.”
Shannon Johnson2012DE“Ever since Johnson was found guilty in 2008 of the mur­der of Cameron Hamlin, he has told any attor­ney, court or jury that would lis­ten to hur­ry up and put him to death.”
Christopher Johnson2011AL“After he was sen­tenced to death, he refused to pur­sue appeals in his case, and filed court papers in May say­ing he didn’t want any­one to go to court on his behalf.”
Jeffrey Motts2011SC“Motts aban­doned all his appeals and vol­un­teered for the death chamber.”
Gerald Bordelon2010LA“The most recent­ly Louisiana has put some­one to death was Gerald Bordelon in 2010, after he waived his right to legal appeals and fast-tracked his own killing.” (Julie O’Donoghue, Louisiana spent $7.7 mil­lion on death penal­ty defense. It has­n’t exe­cut­ed any­one in 13 years., Louisiana Illuminator, March 21, 2023)
Danielle Simpson2009TX“ ​‘If I can’t be free — Kill Me.!!’ the Texas death row pris­on­er demand­ed in a ram­bling and some­times inco­her­ent hand­writ­ten plea ear­li­er this year. […] The court grant­ed the con­vict­ed mur­der­er his wish.” (Chris McGreal, Texas death row man claims inmates’ num­bered days are form of tor­ture, The Guardian, November 15, 2009) 
Jack Trawick2009AL“No legal efforts made to stop his exe­cu­tion.” Asked Circuit Judge to be sen­tenced to death.
David Martinez2009TX“Martinez won per­mis­sion from the courts to stop appeals attempt­ing to spare his life”
Marco Allen Chapman2008KY“Resisted all appeals to stop his exe­cu­tion […] fought to fire his attor­ney to clear the way.”
Michael Rodriguez2008TX“Mr. Rodriguez had asked that there be no fur­ther appeals in his case.” (Steve Thompson, Texas Seven mem­ber Michael Anthony Rodriguez exe­cut­ed, Dallas Morning News, August 14, 2008)
David Mark Hill2008SC“Convicted in 1996; asked South Carolina to drop his appeals.” The court approved.
Daryl Holton2007TNExecution was delayed by a 90-day mora­to­ri­um, but ​“for the most part, Holton refused to file appeals.”
Elijah Page2007SD“Gave up appeals and asked Judge to be sen­tenced to death.”
Christopher Newton2007OH“Insisted on the death penal­ty and made no attempt to appeal […]Newton want­ed to die.”
Robert Charles Comer2007AZ“Fought for sev­en years to drop his appeals and be allowed to die […]fought since 2000 to prove competency.”
Christopher Swift2007TX“Spurned all appeals; accord­ing to attor­ney ​“Receiving the death penal­ty is what he want­ed form day one.”
David Dawson2006MTIn 2004, ​“Dawson fired his attor­neys and asked to die, fight­ing all appeals on his behalf.” State District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock reject­ed all appeals not­ing that Dawson had specif­i­cal­ly asked them all to be dropped.
Darrell Ferguson2006OH“He asked for the death penal­ty and chose not to pur­sue appeals, which could have delayed his exe­cu­tion for years.”
Robert Anderson2006TXAnderson had ​“asked that no new appeals be filed to block his exe­cu­tion.” (Michael Graczyk, ​“Killer of 5‑year-old in Texas exe­cut­ed,” Associated Press, July 20, 2006)
William Downs2006SC“Downs, who did not pur­sue any appeals, plead­ed guilty to the crimes in 2002. Before he was sen­tenced to death, Downs told Circuit Judge Casey Manning he deserved to die.”
Rocky Barton2006OH“Barton has been on death row for less than three years […] he is the fifth vol­un­teer to waive his rights to appeal.”
Daryl Mack2006NV“Mack had said in court state­ments that he’d rather be exe­cut­ed than spend the rest of his life locked up on death row […] he is the 11th con­demned pris­on­er in the state to vol­un­tar­i­ly give up available appeals.”
Arthur Hastings Wise2005SC“Wise nev­er dis­put­ed his guilt and refused to let wit­ness­es tes­ti­fy for him […] he then dropped his appeals and asked the state to execute him.”
Herman Ashworth2005OH“Ashworth became the fourth death row inmate in Ohio since 1999 to drop his appeals to speed his death sen­tence […] he refused to try any appeals.”
Kevin Conner2005IN“Connor had want­ed no protests, no efforts to save his life, and told Gov. Mitch Daniels that ​“killing a per­son is far more hon­est and humane than imposed repres­sion under the guise of jus­tice in the penal system.”
Alexander Martinez2005TX“As the exe­cu­tion date loomed, Martinez instruct­ed his defense attor­ney, Houston lawyer, Pat McCann, no to file any appeals to delay his death.”
Michael Ross2005CT“Michael Ross sought death despite hav­ing years of appeals still avail­able to him. Though Ross was adamant that he be allowed to give up his appeals, he had to per­suade sev­er­al judges that he was com­pe­tent to do so.
Mario Centobie2005AL“Puzone, a fed­er­al pub­lic defend­er, tried to get a court order block­ing the exe­cu­tion. A final appeal was denied Thursday by the Supreme Court. Centobie opposed Puzone’s efforts, say­ing he was sane but pre­ferred death over life in prison.
Glen Ocha2005FL“Ocha would not let a pub­lic defend­er present evi­dence to avoid exe­cu­tion. After the state Supreme Court affirmed his con­vic­tion in 2002, Ocha filed a motion to drop his appeals and dis­miss his lawyers.
James Porter2005TXPorter ​“spurned appeals and vol­un­tar­i­ly went to the Texas death cham­ber […] Porter nev­er wavered from his desire to die.”
Charles Roache2004NC“After one manda­to­ry appeal, Roache gave up years’ worth of fur­ther pos­si­ble appeals and told the to go ahead and kill him. He said it was to show his remorse and try to make up for his crimes.”
Peter Miniel2004TX“Minel exhaust­ed his appeals in the 1990s. Officials with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said that Miniel had not sought a reprieve.”
David Kevin Hocker2004AL“Hocker, a men­tal­ly ill 33-year-old, refused to fight his 1998 cap­i­tal mur­der con­vic­tion. Hocker’s death marks the first time some­one has been exe­cut­ed by the state with­out Alabama Supreme Court review­ing the case, but Hocker resist­ed attor­neys’ efforts to save his life.
James Hudson2004VA“Hudson nev­er chal­lenged his death sen­tence and refused to let his lawyers file appeals. Hudson plead­ed guilty to capital murder.”
Terry Jess Dennis2004NV‘Dennis was a vol­un­teer, mean­ing an inmate sen­tenced to death who refused to try to appeal his case. He told court offi­cials at one hear­ing: ​“Death is prefer­able to anoth­er 15 – 20 years in prison.”
Scott Mink2004OH“After plead­ing guilty to charges of aggra­vat­ed mur­der in 2001, Mink asked a three-judge pan­el in Montgomery County to sen­tence him to death.” He lat­er appealed, but the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
Stephen Vrabel2004OH“Vrabel, who con­fessed to the killings, vol­un­tar­i­ly dropped appeals on his two mur­der con­vic­tions to speed his exe­cu­tion […] The Ohio Supreme Court upheld Vrabel’s death sen­tence by a 4 – 3 vote.”
John Blackwelder2004FL“After his death sen­tence was affirmed by the Supreme Court last year, Blackwelder waived his appeals and made no secret of his desire to die.”
Lawrence Colwell Jr.2004NV“Colwell said he want­ed no more appeals […] refus­ing to seek a stay from a fed­er­al judge who said he would stop the exe­cu­tion if Cowell asked.”
Ynobe Matthews2004TX“Matthews, who had been on death row since June 2001, waived appeals and asked that his exe­cu­tion be carried out.”
John Clayton Smith2003MO“His push to halt appeals of his sen­tence dat­ed to at least mid-2001 […] Smith waived his appeals and said he had want­ed to die.”
Larry Hayes2003TX“Hayes expe­dit­ed his exe­cu­tion by waiv­ing his appeals […] Hayes said he did not want to appeal his case because he want­ed to atone for his crime.”
Paul Hill2003FL“Since los­ing his auto­mat­ic appeals, Hill has not fought his exe­cu­tion, and insist­ed on death.”
Harold McElmurry2003OK“McElmurry’s deci­sion not to seek addi­tion­al appeals made it eas­i­er for the [vic­tim’s fam­i­ly] to grant McElmurry’s request for for­give­ness.” (Rob Jenkins, Killer of elder­ly cou­ple exe­cut­ed, Tulsa World, July 29, 2003)
Newton Slawson2003FL“After eight years on death row, Slawson asked to end his legal appeals, telling a judge, ​“there sim­ply comes a time when death is a release, not a punishment.”
Aileen Wuornos2002FL“Wournos dropped all appeals”
Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco2002FL“”Velasco, 43, had been declrred com­pe­tent to make that deci­sion [drop his appeals] and was sen­tenced to death fol­low­ing a psychiatric evaluation.”
Michael Passaro2002SC“The 40-year old inmate could have stopped his exe­cu­tion any time because he has nev­er appealed his sen­tence […] Passaro per­son­al­ly appeared before the State Supreme Court, ask­ing them to let him go to his death with­out a judge ever review­ing the case.”
Earl Alexander Frederick, Sr.2002OK“Fredrick told the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office he want­ed to waive appeals to his sentence.”
Lynda Lyon Block2002AL“Block declined to pur­sue final appeals late Thursday, claim­ing the courts were cor­rupt and lacked juris­dic­tion in her case.”
Daniel Zirkle2002VA“Zirkle did not appeal his sen­tence […] and asked for the death sen­tence at both his tri­als. He also refused to let his attor­neys present mitigating evidence.”
James Earl Patterson2002VA“Patterson asked his lawyers not to appeal or request clemen­cy, plead­ing guilt and ask­ing to be sen­tenced to death.”
Terry Clark2001NM“Clark, who decid­ed in March to end his appeals, changed his mind more than once about whether he want­ed to die. Against the wish­es of his lawyers, who argued that he was incom­pe­tent and men­tal­ly ill, Clark asked a judge to go ahead with his execution.”
James Elledge2001WA“Elledge took no legal steps to pre­vent his exe­cu­tion and had told his lawyer not to put on a defense dur­ing the penal­ty phase of his trial.”
Timothy McVeigh2001FED“McVeigh’s lawyers con­firmed he wished not to pur­sue any more appeals and wished to die.” (McVeigh Gives Up Appeal, ABC, June 6, 2001)
Clay King Smith2001AR“Smith said he wouldn’t appeal his sen­tence because it would bring more tor­ment to the fam­i­lies of his five vic­tims. Smith had not filed any appeals with the fed­er­al court and did not ask Gov. Mike Huckabee for clemency.”
Sebastian Bridges2001NV“Bridges had declined to appeal his death sen­tences through the courts. No attempt was made to seek a par­don because Bridges did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Ronald Fluke2001OK“Over the objec­tions of pub­lic defend­ers, the for­mer safe­ty con­sul­tant was deemed men­tal­ly com­pe­tent to plead guilty and not fight his death sentence.”
Robert Lee Massie2001CA“Massie, who had spent 21 years seek­ing to over­turn his con­vic­tions, for­mal­ly dropped his appeals last year to protest what he called the snail’s pace of the California death penalty system.”
Gerald Bivins2001IN“Bivins declined to exhaust his appeals, say­ing he was tired of prison life and frus­trat­ed.” The Governor refused to inter­vene because Bivins had aban­doned his appeals.
Thomas Akers2001VA“An appeal filed by his lawyers — over Akers’ objec­tions — was reject­ed by the US Supreme Court. His lawyers con­tend­ed that Akers, who is retard­ed, was sui­ci­dal, men­tal­ly ill and incompetent.”
Floyd Medlock2001OK“Medlock turned him­self in and lat­er plead­ed guilty to first-degree mur­der. Medlock did not request a clemen­cy hear­ing and filed no emer­gency appeals to try and stop his execution.”
Donald Jay Miller2000AZCircuit Judge Reinhardt’s Opinion: ​“Don Miller is what is known in the death penal­ty trade as ​‘a vol­un­teer’. He has stat­ed that he wish­es to be executed.”
Edward Castro2000FL“An inmate who dropped all his legal appeals and fired his state-hired lawyers was exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion Thursday.” (Double killer exe­cut­ed at Florida State Prison, AP, December 8, 2000)
Dan Hauser2000FL“Hauser con­fessed to the killing and pro­vid­ed pros­e­cu­tors with grue­some details. Throughout his appeal, Hauser repeat­ed­ly asked state offi­cials to car­ry out his death sentence.”
Bert Hunter2000MO“Eleven years after he waived his right to a tri­al and told the court he want­ed to die, con­vict­ed killer Bert Hunter was exe­cut­ed ear­ly today. […] ​‘It’s time for this night­mare to be over, as far as I’m con­cerned.’ ” (Man exe­cut­ed for two mur­ders, AP, June 28, 2000)
Pernell Ford2000AL“Ford dropped his appeals and fired his defense attor­ney LaJuana Davis in 1997. A fed­er­al appeals court ruled that Ford was com­pe­tent to drop his appeals and fire his attorney.”
Richard Foster2000TX“On April 14, 2000, the Fifth Circuit grant­ed Foster per­mis­sion to with­draw his appeal.” (Texas Attorney General Media Advisory, Richard Donald Foster Scheduled to be Executed, May 23, 2000)
Christina Riggs2000AR“At her 19998 tri­al, Ms. Riggs asked jurors to sen­tence her to death. Initially, Ms. Riggs pur­sued appeal of her death sen­tence, but she soon withdrew it.”
James Hampton2000MO“Hampton did not seek clemen­cy from Gov. Mel Carnahan […] refus­ing for years to appeal his case amid claims that a gun­shot wound had affect­ed his judgment.”
Robert Atworth1999TX“Atworth had asked that no appeals be made on his behalf and that he be exe­cut­ed. My Atworth wrote the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, say­ing he want­ed to waive all appeals.”
Joseph Parsons1999UTAfter twelve years on death row ​“Parsons demand­ed that appeals of his death sen­tence be dropped.”
Richard Wayne Smith1999TX“Smith dropped all appeals to his con­vic­tion for Bay town mur­der of Karen Birky, allow­ing the state to exe­cute him instead of wait­ing to die from advanc­ing hepatitis C.”
Alan Willett1999AR“Willett waived his court appeals and asked that his exe­cu­tion be carried out.”
Gary Heidnick1999PA“Heidnik had declined to pur­sue any appeals since he was sen­tenced in 1988. His lawyers pressed appeals in fed­er­al court con­tend­ing that it was ille­gal to exe­cute him because he was not mentally competent.”
Charles Tuttle1999TX“Tuttle refused to allow his attor­neys to file appeals on his behalf.”
Edward Lee Harper1999KY“Harper want­ed to be exe­cute rather than face life in prison for the shoot­ing deaths of his par­ents. He told a judge that he want­ed to drop fur­ther appeals and fire his court-appointed lawyers.
Aaron Foust1999TX“Foust demand­ed that no legal appeals be filed on his behalf, clear­ing the way for his execution.”
Eric Payne1999VA“Payne was appar­ent­ly one of just two Virginia men in mod­ern times not to fight the death sen­tences with appeals.”
Alavro Calambro1999NV“Calambro refused to file his own appeal.”
James Rich1999NC“Rich plead­ed guilty to stab­bing Paul Gwyn at the Eastern Correctional Institution in 1994. Rich fired appeals lawyers and asked to be exe­cut­ed, and rep­re­sent­ed him­self at trial.
Wilford Berry1999OH“Mr. Berry cam­paigned for the sen­tence […] because he insist­ed that the sen­tence not be appealed.”
Jeremy Sagastegui1998WA“Sagastegui act­ed as his own lawyer, nev­er pre­sent­ed a defense, nev­er intro­duced any wit­ness­es on his behalf. He plead­ed guilty and waived his right to appeal.” The Supreme Court held that he was com­pe­tent to waive his rights.
Roderick Abeyta1998NV“Abeyta had writ­ten to a judge to say he want­ed to be exe­cut­ed. Abeyta chose to pro­ceed with his exe­cu­tion rather than fight his sen­tence in the courts.”
Stephen Wood1998OK“Wood chose to waive his remain­ing appeals. At his com­pe­ten­cy hear­ing, Wood told a judge he had long sup­port­ed the death penalty.”
Clifford Boggess1998TX“He had been on death row for 11 years and decid­ed not to make any final appeals against his death sen­tence.” (Amnesty International, The illu­sion of con­trol: ​“Consensual” exe­cu­tions, the impend­ing death of Timothy McVeigh, and the bru­tal­iz­ing futil­i­ty of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment [2001])
Steven Thompson1998AL“Thompson plans no last-minute appeals or requests for clemen­cy.” (Court sets May 8 exe­cu­tion date in 1984 rape, slay­ing, AP, March 28, 1998)
Arthur Martin Ross1998AZ“Ross had legal options avail­able but didn’t use them, say­ing he was tired of liv­ing on death row and would rather die.”
Michael Long1998OK“Long was exe­cut­ed after waiv­ing his remaining appeals.”
Steven Renfro1998TX“After a jury con­vict­ed him of cap­i­tal mur­der, he end­ed his tri­al by telling jurors he should be put to death. The for­mer labor­er asked that no appeals be filed on his behalf.”
Ricky Lee Sanderson1998NC“Sanderson, who went through three sen­tenc­ing hear­ings, asked in 1992 that appeals be dropped so his exe­cu­tion could proceed.”
Robert Smith1998IN“Smith turned down a plea for a 50-year sen­tence, eschewed all appeals and was grant­ed with his wish to die but the Indiana Supreme Court. Smith had dis­missed his state-appointed attorneys.”
Lloyd Wayne Hampton1998IL“Hampton turned aside all appeals on his behalf and said he want­ed to die rather than spend more time in prison.”
Gary Lee Davis1997CO“Davis sab­o­taged his own defense and short­cut the appeals process, pre­fer­ring lethal injec­tion to a life spent in soli­tary con­fine­ment.” (Alan Prendergast, Gary Lee Davis: Colorado’s last vol­un­teer for the death penal­ty, Westword, September 21, 2012)
John Cockrum1997TX“In the first of many let­ters to the court, the appli­cant request­ed that his appli­ca­tion be with­drawn, that he be per­mit­ted to dis­miss his attor­neys, and that the death penal­ty be imposed swift­ly.” (In re Cockrum, 867 F. Supp. 484 (E.D. Tex. 1994)
Benjamin Stone1997TX“Refused legal help and refused to have any appeals filed on his behalf” after a 17-month death row stay.
Michael Eugene Elkins1997SC“The con­demned inmate waived his court appeals. His lawyer, Kevin Bell, said the once slight­ly built Elkins had swollen from spleen and liv­er prob­lems and was uncom­fort­able in prison.”
Harry Charles Moore1997OR“Moore threat­ened to sue any­one who tried to stop his exe­cu­tion, even peti­tion­ing the Oregon Supreme Court to drop his automatic appeal.”
Scott Dawn Carpenter1997OK“Carpenter plead­ed no con­test and waived his right to appeal say­ing that he did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Richard Brimage Junior1997TX“Brimage wrote to a judge in Texas that he deserved to die, waiv­ing all remaining appeals.”
Doyle Cecil Lucas1996SC“Lucas gave up appeals to has­ten his exe­cu­tion and chose to die by injec­tion instead of the electric chair.
Larry Lonchar1996GA“He dropped his appeal when the 1996 Legislature adjourned with­out chang­ing the state’s method of exe­cu­tion.” (Lonchar dies in elec­tric chair, AP, November 14, 1996)
Joe Gonzales1996TX“Gonzales waived all appeals as he wait­ed to die, spend­ing less than 10 months on death row.”
Douglas Franklin Wright1996OR“To the lat, Wright refused to appeal the death sen­tence he was giv­en for killing three homeless men.”
Michael Torrence1996SC“Torrence had peti­tioned the state Supreme Court since 1994 to let him drop his appeals.”
Daren Lee Bolton1996AZ“The route to the death cham­ber for Bolton was quick­er than most because he shunned some of the appeals that death-row inmates are enti­tled. Bolton said he would rather die than spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
Robert South1996SC“South halt­ed his appeals, say­ing he did not want to spend more years in prison.”
James Clark Jr.1996DE“Clark plead­ed guilty rather than stand tri­al for the shoot­ing deaths […] and refused to file appeals, say­ing repeat­ed­ly that he want­ed to die as soon as possible.”
Leo Jenkins1996TX“Jenkins, who worked as a mechan­ic, has ordered all appeals to be stopped and is vol­un­teer­ing for death.”
John Albert Taylor1996UT“Taylor, a con­demned child killer who aban­doned his appeals became the nation’s first con­vict in 19 years to be exe­cut­ed by firing squad.”
Esequel Banda1995TX“Banda fired his attor­ney and refused to file appeals after the Texas Court of Criminal appeals reject­ed his final plea for a new trial.”
Mickey Wayne Davidson1995VA“Davidson had long waived off legal attempts to pro­long his life. He wavered once, three days before a 1993 exe­cu­tion, launch­ing a round of court pro­ceed­ings.” He final­ly dis­avowed any fur­ther appeals, say­ing he deserved to die.
Phillip Lee Ingle1995NC“Mr. Ingle, who had said he want­ed to die, stopped his appeals ​‘so that the vic­tims’ fam­i­lies can maybe find some peace to put an end to what has hap­pened. A Superior Court judge demoed a request for a stay by Mr. Ingle’s sister.”
Leon Moser1995PA“Moser who had said he want­ed to die and refused to appeal his case. The United States Supreme Court reversed a stay by a low­er to deter­mine Moser’s competency.”
Keith Zettlemoyer1995PA“Frustrated with prison life, Zattlemoyer had writ­ten to pros­e­cu­tors ask­ing to stop his appeals.”
Thomas Grasso1995OK“The state Court of Criminal Appeals per­mit­ted Grasso to waive his rights to appeal his con­vic­tion and death sentence.”
Nelson Shelton1995DE“Shelton refused to appeal his sen­tence, and last month told Superior Court that he wished to waiv­er the 90-day wait­ing peri­od for executions.”
George Lott1994TX“Lott refused any attempts to appeal his case or get any stays of executions.”
John Thanos1994MD“Thanos cut short the usu­al­ly years long appeals process by fir­ing his state pub­lic defend­ers in 1993 […] he has repeat­ed­ly scorned efforts by both fed­er­al and state pub­lic defend­ers to block his execution.”
Richard Lee Beavers1994TX“Beavers asked that no appeals be filed in his behalf. Beavers said he would rather be put to death than have lay­ers telling lies in court on his behalf.”
Keith Wells1994ID“The United States Supreme Court reject­ed an appeal filed against Mr. Wells’ wish­es, con­tend­ing that Mr. Wells was incom­pe­tent and there­fore not capa­ble of decid­ing whether to appeal his conviction.”
Anthony Cook1993TX“”While on death row, My. Cook said in a let­ter to author­i­ties, he had a reli­gious con­ver­sion and want­ed his pun­ish­ment carried out.”
Michael Durocher1993FL“”Durocher went to his death after the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday reject­ed two appeals that had been filed over his objections.”
David Mason1993CA“Mason decid­ed not to appeal his sen­tence to the fed­er­al courts after it was upheld by the California Supreme Court. Appeals were filed against Mr. Mason’s wish­es by a lay­er he had dismissed.”
Andrew Chabrol1993VA“Chabrol lost his auto­mat­ic review before the Virginia Supreme Court and chose not to pur­sue further appeals.”
John George Brewer1993AZ“Mr. Brewer had admit­ted to beat­ing and stran­gling his 23-year old fiancée, who was 22 weeks preg­nant. He con­tend­ed that he deserved to be put to death.”
James Allen Red Dog1993DE“Red Dog refused to appeal his sen­tence because he con­tend­ed that doing so would vio­late his warrior’s code.”
Westley Allan Dodd1993WA“Dodd vowed that he would sue any­one who sought to save him […] Mr. Dodd has waived all appeals and cho­sen to be die by hanging.”
Steven B. Pennell1992DE“He was sen­tenced to death after plead­ing no con­test to the mul­ti­ple mur­ders after rep­re­sent­ing him­self in court.” Pernell waived his right to appeal, and the Supreme Court reject­ed his wife’s attempt to secure a stay.
Charles Walker1990IL“Last week, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Walker was men­tal­ly com­pe­tent to waive fur­ther appeals and set a fourth, and appar­ent­ly final, exe­cu­tion date.” (No Regrets and No Appeals, Chicago Tribune, January 24, 1988)
James Smith1990TX“Smith said he want­ed to die because ​‘do-good­ers’ already have robbed him of the time in the next world.”
Ronald Gene Simmons1990AR“Mr. Simmons said he would not appeal the ver­dict or the sen­tence and asked that no inter­fere with its being carried out.”
Thomas Baal1990NV“Baal opposed his par­ents’ legal efforts to keep him alive, adding that ​‘I want to have this exe­cu­tion over with so I can pay my debt.’” The US Supreme Court over­turned a stay on the exe­cu­tion based on mental competency.
Leonard Marvin Laws1990MO“Executed for par­tic­i­pat­ing in the rob­bery and shot­gun slay­ings of an elderly couple.”
Jerome Butler*1990TX“Butler refused to appeal his death sen­tence and said ​‘I just want to get it over with.’” Prosecutors and judges were pre­pared to halt the exe­cu­tion if Butler had asked for a stay.
Gerald Smith1990MO“Gerald Smith asked that his death sen­tenced be car­ried out, and had no last words.”
Sean Patrick Flanagan1989NV“Flanagan, of Dowagiac, Mich., had refused to make any appeals to stay his exe­cu­tion.” (Cy Ryan, Former male pros­ti­tute exe­cut­ed for killing two men, UPI, June 23, 1989)
William Paul Thompson1989NV“A mul­ti­ple killer and career crim­i­nal who asked to ​‘die with dig­ni­ty’ was exe­cut­ed ear­ly today for killing a drifter.” (AP, Murderer is Executed in Nevada, The New York Times, 1989)
Arthur Bishop1988UT“A for­mer Eagle Scout who sought his own exe­cu­tion for the sex-relat­ed mur­ders of five boys was put to death today by injec­tion.” (AP, Slayer of Five Boys Is Executed in Utah By Injection of Drugs, The New York Times, June 11, 1988)
Robert Streetman1988TX“He said in the past that he had been ready to die since the day he arrived on death row in 1983. Last week he appar­ent­ly changed his mind, and the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas Law School took over his case. On Wednesday he changed his mind again, ask­ing to be exe­cut­ed.” (AP, Texas Burglar Who Shot a Woman to Death for Her $1 Is Executed, The New York Times, January 8, 1988)
Elisio Moreno1987TX“Mr. Moreno spurned all efforts by oth­ers to try and save his life […]He told the judge who had sen­tenced him that he want­ed no appeals.”
Ramon Hernandez1987TX“Mr. Hernandez did not want to be rep­re­sent­ed by attor­neys because he thought he would lose his right to rep­re­sent him­self.” Mr. Hernandez also turned down an offer of help from State District Judge Peter Peca, who offered him a stay of the execution.
Jeffrey Allen Barney1986TX“Executed for the rape and mur­der of Ruby Mae Longsworth” vol­un­teered to face his sen­tence of death.
Carroll Cole1985NV“Cole, who admit­ted to killing 13 peo­ple over the years, has said he will not appeal the exe­cu­tion, and insist­ed that pro­long­ing his life would be a waste of tax dollars.”
William Vandiver1985IN“Prison offi­cials said there was no indi­ca­tion that Vandiver would recon­sid­er his choice of death in the elec­tric chair instead of years of appeals on death row.”
Charles Rumbaugh1985TX“Rumbaugh ordered his attor­neys not to pur­sue any appeals that could get him a third stay of execution.”
Stephen Peter Morin1985TX“Mr. Morin, once one of the FBI’s 10 most want­ed crim­i­nals and sen­tenced to die in two states, had asked lawyers not to appeal.”
Frank Coppola1982VA“Coppola, frus­trat­ed by the lengthy appeals process, had repeat­ed­ly demand­ed to be exe­cut­ed ever since he fired his lawyers and elect­ed to with­draw all legal appeals.”
Steven Judy1981IN“Judy, who resist­ed appeals and went will­ing­ly to his death, said he pre­ferred death to life in prison.”
Jesse Bishop1979NV“Bishop opposed appeals to high­er courts, charg­ing that stays of exe­cu­tion would only cause him and his fam­i­ly more agony.”
Gary Gilmore1977UT“In November 1976, Gary Gilmore with­drew his rights of appeal from Utah’s legal sys­tem and request­ed that the courts enforce his death sen­tence as soon as possible.”

*News arti­cles are on file with the Death Penalty Information Center

For more infor­ma­tion, see John Blume, Killing the Willing: ​‘Volunteers,’ Suicide and Competency, 103 Michigan Law Review 9 (2005).