Case Summaries for Modern Federal Death Sentences

Inmates Sentenced Under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988:

Richard Tipton, James H. Roane, Jr. — All Black. Tipton, Roane, and their co-defen­dant Corey Johnson were mem­bers of an inner-city gang in Richmond, VA. They were sen­tenced to death in February 1993 for their par­tic­i­pa­tion in a series of drug-relat­ed mur­ders. Execution dates were set for the three co-defen­dants in May 2006, but the exe­cu­tions were stayed because of a chal­lenge to the lethal injec­tion process. (Roane v. Holder, D.C. Dist. Ct.). Johnson was exe­cut­ed January 14, 2021.

Sentenced Since the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994:
(names in brackets had death sentences reversed, but are awaiting final disposition)

Len Davis — Black. Davis, a New Orleans police offi­cer who was under inves­ti­ga­tion in a drug con­spir­a­cy case, was sen­tenced to death on two con­vic­tions in April 1996 for order­ing the mur­der of a young black woman who had pre­vi­ous­ly seen him beat a wit­ness in an unre­lat­ed inci­dent. A co-defen­dant, Paul Hardy, also black, was the trig­ger­man in the killing. Hardy was also sen­tenced to death on two con­vic­tions in May 1996. The Fifth Circuit reversed the sen­tences for both defen­dants and one of the two cap­i­tal con­vic­tions for each defen­dant. The court ordered a new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing for both defen­dants. A fed­er­al jury again rec­om­mend­ed a sen­tence of death for Len Davis on August 9, 2005. (Associated Press, Aug. 10, 2005). Hardy is not under a sen­tence of death.

Anthony Battle — Black. Battle, a fed­er­al pris­on­er with a his­to­ry of psy­chi­atric prob­lems, was sen­tenced to death in March 1997 for the mur­der of a guard in the fed­er­al pen­i­ten­tiary in Atlanta, Georgia. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld his con­vic­tion and death sen­tence in 1999. A Georgia fed­er­al dis­trict court sub­se­quent­ly reject­ed a chal­lenge to Battle’s men­tal com­pe­ten­cy and denied his peti­tion for a writ of habeas cor­pus. The Eleventh Circuit upheld the dis­trict court’s rul­ing in August 2005.

Aquilia Barnette — Black. Barnette was con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing a man in North Carolina in a car­jack­ing and a woman, his for­mer girl­friend, in Virginia. A jury sen­tenced him to death on February 10, 1998. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed his death sen­tence on May 4, 2000. Barnette was re-sen­tenced to death in 2002, and in December 2004, the Fourth Circuit upheld the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. The U.S. Supreme Court vacat­ed that judg­ment on October 3, 2005 and remand­ed the case back to the Fourth Circuit in light of the Court’s rul­ing on racial dis­crim­i­na­tion in jury selec­tion ear­li­er that year in Miller-El v. Dretke. The Circuit remand­ed the case to the dis­trict court, which, in May 2010, ruled that Barnette had not proven his claim of jury dis­crim­i­na­tion. The Fourth Circuit upheld the dis­trict court’s rul­ing in May 2011.

Billie Jerome Allen and Norris Holder — Both Black. Allen and Holder were con­vict­ed of the fatal shoot­ing of a bank guard dur­ing a rob­bery in St. Louis, Missouri. Allen was sen­tenced to death by a jury on Mar. 10, 1998. In June 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court vacat­ed Allen’s death sen­tence and remand­ed the case back to the Eighth Circuit for recon­sid­er­a­tion in light of the Court’s rul­ing in Ring v. Arizona. Because his fed­er­al indict­ment did not include the aggra­vat­ing fac­tors nec­es­sary to sup­port his death sen­tence, the 8^th Circuit said Allen’s sen­tence should be reduced to life in prison. (February 5, 2004, St. Louis Post-Dispatch). However, in September 2004, the 8^th Circuit con­duct­ed a rehear­ing en banc of the ear­li­er deci­sion and rein­stat­ed Allen’s death sen­tence. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 3, 2005). Holder was sen­tenced to death by a jury on April 3, 1998.

Richard Allen Jackson — White. Jackson was con­vict­ed in fed­er­al court on May 7, 2001 for use of a firearm on fed­er­al prop­er­ty (Bend Creek Recreation Area) dur­ing a felony result­ing in the death of the vic­tim. He was sub­se­quent­ly sen­tenced to death. Jackson had ear­li­er been con­vict­ed in North Carolina state court for offens­es aris­ing from the same actions. He was con­vict­ed of the kid­nap­ping and mur­der of Karen Lynn Styles in 1994. That con­vic­tion was over­turned and Jackson lat­er plead­ed guilty to sec­ond degree murder.

Marvin Gabrion — White. On March 16, 2002, Marvin Gabrion was sen­tenced to death for a 1997 mur­der in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest. Although Michigan does not have the death penal­ty, Gabrion was sen­tenced under the fed­er­al sys­tem because the vic­tim was killed on fed­er­al prop­er­ty. Gabrion’s case was the first time since the fed­er­al death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed that a fed­er­al death sen­tence was imposed in a state that did not itself autho­rize cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Gabrion’s death sen­tence was over­turned by a pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Chicago Tribune, Aug. 3, 2011) because the tri­al judge had not allowed the defense to raise as an issue that Gabrion could not have been sen­tenced to death if he had been tried in a Michigan state court. The Sixth Circuit reviewed the deci­sion en banc and in May 2013 reversed the pan­el. His lawyers sub­se­quent­ly filed a peti­tion for writ of habeas cor­pus. A sub­se­quent January 2017 plead­ing argued that Gabrion is men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent, and detailed ​“a long his­to­ry of severe men­tal ill­ness” that ​“may have dete­ri­o­rat­ed over the last 15 years while he has been housed on death row.” (J. Agar, ​“Death-row inmate Marvin Gabrion ​‘active­ly delu­sion­al,’ no help to attor­neys,” Michigan Live, January 27, 2017.)

Julius Robinson — Black. Robinson was sen­tenced to death on March 18, 2002, for the killings of Juan Reyes in May 1999 and Rudolph Resendez in June 1999 in Fort Worth, Texas. Both men were killed in drug relat­ed inci­dents. Robinson was for­mal­ly sen­tenced by the tri­al judge on June 5, 2002.

Meier Jason Brown — Black. A U.S. District judge affirmed the rec­om­men­da­tion of a jury for a death sen­tence against Meier Brown on November 8, 2003. Brown was con­vict­ed of the November 2002 mur­der of a 48-year-old white female — a Fleming, Georgia postal work­er — dur­ing a rob­bery. Brown had agreed to plead guilty in return for a sen­tence of life with­out parole in light of Brown’s con­fes­sion, but fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors sought the death sen­tence. (Savannah Morning News, November 8, 2003)

Chadrick Fulks and Branden Basham — Both White. A jury rec­om­mend­ed the death sen­tence for the 2002 kid­nap­ping and mur­der of a 44-year-old-white South Carolina woman fol­low­ing Fulks’ escape from a Kentucky jail. Fulks’ code­fen­dant, Branden Basham, was tried in September 2004 for crimes com­mit­ted dur­ing the escape. Fulks is the first fed­er­al death con­vic­tion in South Carolina. The judge is required to uphold the rec­om­men­da­tion and con­firm the death sen­tence. (The State (Columbia, SC), July 1, 2004). On November 2, 2004, a jury rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Basham for the mur­der. The judge is required to fol­low the rec­om­men­da­tion of the jury and impose a death sen­tence. (Associated Press, November 2, 2004).

Jeffery W. Paul — White. Paul was sen­tenced to death in 1997 for being an accom­plice to the mur­der of an 82-year-old man in Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. At the time of the offense, Paul was 18 years old. His old­er co-defen­dant, Trinity Ingel, received a life sen­tence despite admit­ting that he was the trig­ger­man. Paul’s death sen­tence was vacat­ed in 2022 after the Southern District of Indiana grant­ed his § 2241 habeas cor­pus peti­tion upon find­ing that the firearms con­vic­tion on which his death sen­tence was based was due to be vacat­ed. He was resen­tenced to life impris­on­ment in October 2023.

Shannon Agofsky — White. Agofsky was giv­en a death sen­tence on July 17, 2004 for the mur­der of a fel­low inmate at the Beaumont Federal Penitentiary in Texas in 2001. The jury was shown a video of the attack that prison offi­cials said was gang-relat­ed. Agofsky was orig­i­nal­ly in prison for a mur­der that occurred when he was 18. (Associated Press, July 18, 2004).

Ronald Mikos — White. On May 23, 2005 a jury rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for this 56-year-old Chicago podi­a­trist who was con­vict­ed of fatal­ly shoot­ing Joyce Brannon, a white for­mer patient, to pre­vent her from tes­ti­fy­ing in a fed­er­al probe of a Medicare fraud scheme in January 2002. (Chicago Tribune, May 23, 2005). In the fed­er­al sys­tem, a jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion for either life with­out parole or death is bind­ing on the judge.

Edward Fields — White. On July 22, 2005, a jury in the east­ern dis­trict of Oklahoma rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Fields, 38, a for­mer prison guard. Fields plead­ed guilty to the mur­der of two white campers in the Ouachita National Forest while wear­ing his home­made sniper suit. There was some evi­dence that Fields was men­tal­ly ill. A fed­er­al judge sen­tenced him to death on Nov. 8, 2005. (Muskogee Phoenix, July 26, 2005; Associated Press, July 15, 2005).

[Kenneth Lighty] — Black. On Nov. 10, 2005, a fed­er­al jury in Maryland rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Lighty for the kid­nap­ping and mur­der of Eric Hayes (black), an alleged PCP deal­er and son of a D.C. police lieu­tenant, in 2001. The kid­nap­ping occurred in Washington, DC and the mur­der was com­mit­ted in Maryland. Lighty was con­vict­ed on October 21. A co-defen­dant, James Flood was also found guilty but faces a manda­to­ry life sen­tence. In April, a 3^rd defen­dant, Lorenzo Wilson, was con­vict­ed of con­spir­a­cy to kid­nap and faces a life sen­tence. Lighty’s death sen­tence was vacat­ed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on April 13, 2023 for improp­er jury con­sid­er­a­tion of oth­er con­vic­tions. A resen­tenc­ing hear­ing has been sched­uled for Lighty on June 6, 2024.

[Kenneth Barrett] — White. On Nov. 18, 2005, a fed­er­al jury in Muskogee, Oklahoma, rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Barrett for the mur­der of a white police offi­cer, David Eales, on Sept. 24, 1999. The death sen­tence was for inten­tion­al­ly killing a state law enforce­ment offi­cer dur­ing a drug crime and dur­ing the offi­cer’s per­for­mance of his offi­cial duties. Another offi­cer was wound­ed. Barrett had already been con­vict­ed of first-degree manslaugh­ter in state court for the mur­der of Eales, and he was giv­en a 20-year sen­tence, fol­lowed by 10 years for the wound­ing. (Muskogee Phoenix, Nov. 21, 2005). Barrett’s death sen­tence was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on January 19, 2021 for inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel in the penal­ty phase of tri­al. On February 6, 2024, the Government with­drew its notice of intent to seek the death penal­ty and request­ed a sta­tus con­fer­ence with the Court.

Daryl Lawrence — Black. Convicted on Feb. 28, 2006 of the mur­der of a police offi­cer, Bryan Hurst, dur­ing an attempt­ed bank rob­bery in Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 6, 2005. Lawrence was also con­vict­ed of oth­er bank rob­beries in Ohio. A jury rec­om­mend­ed a sen­tence of death on Mar. 10, 2006. (Press Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern Dist. of OH, Mar. 10, 2006). His death sen­tence was over­turned by the tri­al judge (e‑mail from Diane Menashe, Counsel for Daryl Lawrence, on July 3, 2007). That deci­sion was reversed by the 6^th Circuit in 2009, rein­stat­ing his death sentence.

Jurijus Kadamovas and Iouri Mikhel — White. In Los Angeles, a fed­er­al jury rec­om­mend­ed the death penal­ty on Feb. 13, 2007 for two men con­vict­ed of mur­ders in a kid­nap­ping-for-ran­som scheme tar­get­ing five Russian immi­grants and one Georgian immi­grant. Prosecutors said the two men kid­napped afflu­ent Russian immi­grants from Los Angeles in late 2001 and ear­ly 2002 and attempt­ed to extort mon­ey from their fam­i­lies and friends. Three co-con­spir­a­tors plead­ed guilty and tes­ti­fied at the tri­al for the gov­ern­ment. The court for­mal­ly imposed the jury’s death ver­dicts on March 12, 2017. (CBS News, Mar. 12, 2007 & July 25, 2019).

Carlos Caro — Latinx. A jury in the Western District of Virginia rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Caro on Feb. 13, 2007 for the mur­der of his cell­mate, Robert Sandoval. Caro was serv­ing a 30-year sen­tence for drug offens­es. Both Caro and Sandoval were report­ed­ly mem­bers of a prison gang called the Texas Syndicate. The mur­der occurred in 2003. A judge will still have to pro­nounce the for­mal sen­tence at a lat­er date. (Roanoke Times, Feb. 14, 2007). UPDATE: Caro was for­mal­ly sen­tenced to death in District Court on March 30, 2007.

Thomas Hager — Black. On November 1, 2007, a jury in Alexandria, Virginia rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Hager, 34, after delib­er­at­ing for 2 days. Hager was con­vict­ed of the drug-relat­ed mur­der of Barbara White com­mit­ted in 1993. Prosecutors said that Hager killed White because she had learned of the safe house where he was stay­ing. Two asso­ciates of Hager who were also respon­si­ble for White’s mur­der received life sen­tences and tes­ti­fied against him. The defen­dant grew up in a poor area of Southeast Washington, DC, and both of his par­ents were drug addicts who neglect­ed and abused their chil­dren. (Associated Press (Va. Daily Press), Nov. 1, 2007). The judge imme­di­ate­ly imposed the death sen­tence on Hager.

Rejon Taylor — Black. On October 21, 2008, a jury in Chattanooga, Tennessee rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Taylor after con­vict­ing him of mur­der, kid­nap­ping and car­jack­ing. The vic­tim was Guy Luck, a white busi­ness­man who lived in Atlanta, Georgia. He was brought across state lines and mur­dered in Tennessee. Taylor’s attor­ney said he was very con­fi­dent that the ver­dict would be over­turned on appeal. The judge indi­cat­ed that for­mal sen­tenc­ing would take place in about a month. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, Oct. 22, 2008).

Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez, Jr. — Both Latinx. On March 31, 2009, a jury in West Palm Beach, Florida, rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Troya and Sanchez for the mur­der of two chil­dren on the Florida Turnpike in 2006. The defen­dants also were con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing the chil­dren’s par­ents and received life sen­tences for that crime. All the vic­tims were Hispanic. The father of the chil­dren was alleged­ly killed because of a drug debt. The reput­ed king­pin of the drug oper­a­tion did not receive a death sen­tence. The judge is required to fol­low the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion in impos­ing the for­mal sen­tence. (South Florida Sun Sentinel, April 1, 2009). On May 13, 2009 both Troya and Sanchez were for­mal­ly sen­tenced to death.

Joseph Ebron — Black. On May 11, 2009, a jury con­vict­ed Ebron of the 2005 mur­der of Keith Davis, also black, in a fed­er­al prison in Beaumont, Texas. The District Court judge fol­lowed the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion and con­demned Ebron to death on May 18. Both defen­dant and vic­tim were said to be mem­bers of a Washington, D.C. gang. Ebron is 30 years old and has been incar­cer­at­ed for most of his life since he was 15. (Beaumont Enterprise, May 19, 2009).

David Runyon — Asian. On August 27, 2009, a jury in Norfolk, Virginia, unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Runyon for the mur­der of Cory Allen Voss, a white Naval offi­cer, in Newport News in 2007. Runyon, a for­mer sol­dier, was con­vict­ed of shoot­ing Voss in a mur­der-for-hire plot orga­nized by Voss’s wife, Catherina Voss, and her boyfriend, Michael Draven. The fed­er­al gov­ern­ment did not seek the death penal­ty against the oth­er two defen­dants. Catherina Voss pled guilty and received a life sen­tence. Draven was found guilty and faces a life sen­tence. Catherina hired Runyon to kill her hus­band in the hope of being the ben­e­fi­cia­ry of a $500,000 life insur­ance pol­i­cy. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith will for­mal­ly sen­tence Runyon in December. (Daily Press, Aug. 27, 2009).

Alejandro Umaña — Latinx. On April 28, 2010, a jury in Charlotte, NC, unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Umana, who was reput­ed to be a mem­ber of the gang MS-13. He was found guilty of killing 2 broth­ers in a Greensboro restau­rant in 2007. Both vic­tims were Latinx. Umana was one of 26 sus­pect­ed MS-13 gang mem­bers indict­ed in Charlotte in 2008. Chief U.S. District Judge Bob Conrad is required to fol­low the jurors’ rec­om­men­da­tion and impose the death penal­ty. (Charlotte Observer, Apri 29, 2010). Umana was for­mal­ly sen­tenced to death on July 27, 2010.

Mark Snarr (White) and Edgar Garcia (Latinx)— On May 24, 2010, a jury in Beaumont, Texas, rec­om­mend­ed death sen­tences for these two fed­er­al prison inmates for the mur­der of a fel­low inmate, Gabriel Rhone. They also stabbed and wound­ed 2 cor­rec­tions offi­cers. They were con­vict­ed on May 7, 2010, of the mur­der that occurred in the U.S. Penitentiary in Beaumont. Both inmates were serv­ing lengthy sen­tences for drug traf­fick­ing. (AOL News, May 24, 2010). According to the FBI, the pre­sid­ing judge sen­tenced the defen­dants to death on the same day.

Kaboni Savage — Black. On May 31, 2013, a jury in Pennsylvania rec­om­mend­ed the death penal­ty for each of 12 mur­ders Savage com­mit­ted or direct­ed between 1988 and 2004, plus an addi­tion­al death sen­tence relat­ed to wit­ness retal­i­a­tion. The mur­der vic­tims were gov­ern­ment wit­ness­es, their rel­a­tives, and rivals in Savage’s drug oper­a­tion. A fed­er­al judge offi­cial­ly imposed 13 death sen­tences on June 3, 2013. (Philadelphia Inquirer, June 3, 2013).

Jorge Torrez — Latinx. On April 24, 2014, a jury in Virginia rec­om­mend­ed the death penal­ty for this ex-marine con­vict­ed of killing a fel­low ser­vice mem­ber in 2009. Torrez alleged­ly com­mit­ted oth­er mur­ders in Illinois. He instruct­ed his attor­neys not to put on mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence. (Associated Press, Apr. 24, 2014). Torrez was for­mal­ly sen­tenced to death by the judge on May 30, 2014. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld his con­vic­tion and death sen­tence on direct review on August 28, 2017.

Charles Hall and Wesley Coonce — Both White. Hall and Coonce received jury ver­dicts of death on June 2, 2014, for the mur­der of a Latinx pris­on­er in a fed­er­al pen­i­ten­tiary in Missouri. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld Coonce’s con­vic­tion and death sen­tence on July 25, 2019 and upheld Hall’s death sen­tence on December 19, 2019. Hall did not raise any guilt-stage issues in his direct appeal. Coonce like­ly has intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty has and is inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty, but the U.S. Supreme Court refused his peti­tion over the dis­sent of Justice Sotomayor.

Thomas Sanders — White. Sanders was sen­tenced to death by a fed­er­al jury on September 26, 2014, for the kid­nap­ping and mur­der of a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana in 2010. Sanders also killed the girl’s moth­er ear­li­er in Arizona.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — White. Convicted of 30 counts includ­ing mur­der relat­ed to the Boston (Mass.) Marathon bomb­ing (2013). Three vic­tims died in the bomb­ing, hun­dreds were wound­ed, and a police offi­cer was killed in an attempt to avoid arrest. A death ver­dict was returned by the jury on May 15, 2015, for one of the bomb­ing deaths. Formal sen­tenc­ing occurred on June 24, 2015. Tsarnaev’s death sen­tence was over­turned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on July 31, 2020 based upon the tri­al court’s fail­ure to ques­tion jurors on the sub­stance of the pre­tri­al pub­lic­i­ty to which they were exposed. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the appel­late court’s deci­sion in a 6 – 3 ruling.

Dylann Roof — White. Roof was sen­tenced to death by a jury on January 10, 2017 for the race-relat­ed mur­ders of nine parish­ioners at an his­toric Black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The court for­mal­ly imposed the death penal­ty on January 11.

Christopher Cramer and Ricky Fackrell — Both White. Cramer and Fackrell received jury ver­dicts of death on June 13, 2018, for the mur­der of a White pris­on­er in a fed­er­al pen­i­ten­tiary in Texas.

Brandon Council — Black. Council was sen­tenced to death on October 3, 2019 by a jury in South Carolina for killing a teller and bank man­ag­er dur­ing the 2017 rob­bery of a CresCom bank.

Robert Bowers — White. Bowers was found guilty of all 63 fed­er­al charges relat­ed to his 2018 attack on the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shoot­ing that result­ed in 11 deaths and many more injuries. Attorneys for Mr. Bowers told jurors about his his­to­ry of men­tal ill­ness and brain impair­ment from child­hood, includ­ing sev­er­al sui­cide attempts and com­mit­ments to psy­chi­atric facil­i­ties before the age of 13, and argued that he was too delu­sion­al to be eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty. On August 1, 2023 the jury unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence, mark­ing the first death sen­tence obtained under the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice. Victims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers did not agree about whether a death sen­tence should be sought; a 2021 let­ter from sev­en of the nine fam­i­lies who lost a rel­a­tive expressed sup­port for the death penal­ty, while the oth­er fam­i­lies expressed their con­cerns with the incom­pat­i­bil­i­ty of Judaism and capital punishment.

Permanently Removed From Death Row:

John McCullah — White. McCullah was sen­tenced to death for a drug-relat­ed kidnap/​murder of a Muskogee, Oklahoma auto deal­er­ship employ­ee. The 10^th Circuit grant­ed McCullah a new penal­ty hear­ing in 1996, and in February 2000, McCullah was resen­tenced to life in prison.

David Ronald Chandler — White. Chandler, a mar­i­jua­na grow­er in Alabama, was sen­tenced to death under the drug king­pin statute in 1991 for the mur­der-for-hire of a white male. Most of the gov­ern­men­t’s wit­ness­es, includ­ing the trig­ger­man in the killing, have recant­ed their tes­ti­mo­ny. A pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit over­turned his death sen­tence in October 1999 because of inef­fec­tive­ness of coun­sel. In December 1999, the cir­cuit court vot­ed to rehear the case en banc, and by a 6 – 5 vote reversed the pan­el’s grant of relief and rein­stat­ed Chandler’s death sen­tence. Chandler filed a peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari ask­ing the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case. Sentence com­mut­ed to life by President Clinton on January 20, 2001.

Boutaem Chanthadara — Asian. Chanthadara was sen­tenced to death in October 1996 for the armed robbery/​murder of the female pro­pri­etor of a Chinese restau­rant in Wichita, Kansas. In November 2000, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10^th Circuit over­turned Chanthadara’s death sen­tence and remand­ed his case for a new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing. At resen­tenc­ing, Chanthadara was sen­tenced to life in April 2002.

Paul Hardy — Black. Hardy was the trig­ger­man in a killing in New Orleans along with a co-defen­dant Len Davis. Hardy and Davis were sen­tenced to death on two con­vic­tions in May 1996. The U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the sen­tences for both defen­dants and one of the two cap­i­tal con­vic­tions for each defen­dant. The court ordered a new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing for both defen­dants. In 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Ginger Berrigan, who sen­tenced Hardy and Davis to death after their tri­al in 1996, found that Hardy is not eli­gi­ble for death under a 2002 Supreme Court rul­ing pro­hibit­ing the exe­cu­tion of the intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled. (WWL-TV News, Jan. 15, 2011). Davis was resen­tenced to death.

Richard Thomas Stitt — Black. Stitt was con­vict­ed of order­ing the mur­der of three peo­ple in Norfolk, Virginia. He was sen­tenced to death by a jury in November 1998 after a joint tri­al with three code­fen­dants, who did not face the death penal­ty. Stitt’s death sen­tence was over­turnedby a fed­er­al District Court judge in April 2005 because of inef­fec­tive­ness of coun­sel. In March 2006, a pan­el of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the dis­trict court’s judg­ment, find­ing that Stitt’s attor­ney did not ren­der effec­tive assis­tance because of a con­flict of inter­est. (Associated Press, Mar. 25, 2006). On remand, the pros­e­cu­tion request­ed that a new cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing jury be empan­eled. However, the dis­trict court instead ruled that Stitt’s sen­tence should be reduced to life plus 65 years. (Virginian Pilot, June 17, 2007). On appeal, the 4^th Circuit over­turned the dis­trict court’s sen­tence and allowed the gov­ern­ment to con­duct a new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing. Attorney General Eric Holder approved the seek­ing of the death penal­ty at the new sen­tenc­ing tri­al. (Virginian Pilot, Oct. 27, 2009). The gov­ern­ment sub­se­quent­ly announced that it would no longer seek the death penal­tyagainst Stitt. (Virginian-Pilot, Oct. 20, 2010).

Darryl Lamont Johnson — Black. Johnson was con­vict­ed of order­ing the mur­der of two infor­mants in Illinois in con­nec­tion with the Gangster Disciples drug con­spir­a­cy cas­es. He was sen­tenced to death on November 17, 1997. His co-defen­dant was sen­tenced to life in prison. A fed­er­al dis­trict court in Illinois over­turned Johnson’s death sen­tence in Dec. 2010 because jurors had not been giv­en suf­fi­cient infor­ma­tion about the con­di­tions in which Johnson would have been con­fined if he had been sen­tenced to life impris­on­ment. In 2011, the gov­ern­ment decid­ed not to appeal this deci­sion, remov­ing Johnson from death row. On April 9, 2013, Johnson was sen­tenced to life with­out parole in District Court. The judge remarked that he had become a changed man since his con­vic­tion 16 years before. (Business Wire, Apr. 11, 2013).

German Sinistera — Hispanic. In May 2000, a fed­er­al jury in Kansas City, Missouri, rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Sinistera of Houston, Texas, for his role as trig­ger­man in the mur­der of a drug deal­er. Sinistera was a cit­i­zen of Colombia. He was con­vict­ed along with two co-defen­dants, Arboleda Ortiz and Plutarco Tello, who are also Colombian nation­als. The jury also rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Ortiz, but not for Tello. The judge sen­tenced Sinistera and Ortiz to death. In March 2013, Sinistera died in prison. In 2017, President Obama com­mut­ed Ortiz’s death sen­tence to life without parole.

David Lee Jackson — Black. Case: E.D. TX CR No. 1:05-CR-51 B. Jackson was con­vict­ed in the Eastern District of Texas for the 1999 killing of an inmate at the fed­er­al prison in Beaumont, Texas. On Nov. 13, 2006, the sen­tenc­ing jury vot­ed to impose the death penal­ty. The dis­trict court for­mal­ly imposed the sen­tence on Dec. 15, 2006. At the time of the mur­der, Jackson had been incar­cer­at­ed for a weapons vio­la­tion. His co-defen­dant, Arzell Gully, was in prison for drug traf­fick­ing. Both men were sent to the high secu­ri­ty fed­er­al prison in Florence, Colorado, after the homi­cide. Gully did not face the death penal­ty. Jackson, Gully, and the vic­tim all were African American. (Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel). Jackson’s death sen­tence was vacat­ed in District Court on March 25, 2013 and he was sen­tenced to life with­out parole on March 26, 2013. (Federal Capital Habeas Project).

David Paul Hammer — White. Hammer is a men­tal­ly ill pris­on­er who was con­vict­ed of killing a fed­er­al prison inmate at the fed­er­al pen­i­ten­tiary at Allenwood, Pennsylvania, where he was serv­ing a 1200+ year Oklahoma state sen­tence. After ini­tial­ly pur­su­ing an insan­i­ty defense, Hammer pled guilty to the mur­der. He was sen­tenced to death on July 24, 1998. Hammer then sought to dis­charge coun­sel and pro­ceed pro se dur­ing post-tri­al motions. Counsel was appoint­ed for an appeal and after coun­sel filed the appeal, Hammer moved pro se to dis­miss the appeal, moved to with­draw the motion to dis­miss, and changed his mind again. After pro­tract­ed pro­ceed­ings in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the court ulti­mate­ly ruled that Hammer was com­pe­tent to waive his appeal and that the fed­er­al death penal­ty statute per­mit­ted such a waiv­er. The fed­er­al Bureau of Prisons set an exe­cu­tion date for Nov. 15, 2000. Hammer then filed a clemen­cy peti­tion and a request to appeal. The dis­trict court stayed his exe­cu­tion, and direct­ed that he file a habeas cor­pus chal­lenge to his con­vic­tion and sen­tence on or before January 31, 2001. The dis­trict court over­turned Hammer’s death sen­tence because the pros­e­cu­tion had vio­lat­ed its con­sti­tu­tion­al oblig­a­tion to dis­close excul­pa­to­ry evi­dence, in this case with­hold­ing a num­ber of wit­ness state­ments that rebutted the gov­ern­men­t’s aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stance that the mur­der had been the prod­uct of ​“sub­stan­tial plan­ning and pre­med­i­ta­tion.” (Associated Press, Dec. 27, 2005). The gov­ern­ment appealed, but the Third Circuit ruled that, under the fed­er­al sen­tenc­ing statute, it lacked juris­dic­tion to review the case until Hammer had been resen­tenced either to life or death. On July 17, 2014,after a three-week penal­ty hear­ing, a fed­er­al dis­trict court judge in Philadelphia sen­tenced Hammer to life impris­on­ment with­out parole.

Angela Johnson — White. On June 21, 2005, a fed­er­al jury in Iowa rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Angela Johnson (co-defen­dant with Dustin Honken)for her role in aid­ing drug king­pin Honken in 4 of the 5 mur­ders he com­mit­ted. If the sen­tence had been car­ried out, she would have been the first woman exe­cut­ed by the U.S. gov­ern­ment since Bonnie Brown in December 1953. Johnson’s death sen­tence was over­turned by the District Court on March 22, 2012 because of inef­fec­tive­ness of his penal­ty-phase coun­sel. In mid-June 2012, the DOJ announced that it would again seek the death penal­ty against Johnson. However, on December 17, 2014, DOJ announced that it would no longer seek death in the case. (Assoc. Press, Dec. 17, 2014).

Arboleda Ortiz — Black/​Hispanic. In May 2000, a fed­er­al jury in Kansas City, Missouri, rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Ortiz for his role in the mur­der of a drug deal­er. Ortiz and two co-defen­dants, German Sinisterra and Plutarco Tello, are Colombian nation­als. The jury rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Ortiz and Sinistera, but not for Tello. The judge sen­tenced the two to death. Sinistera died in prison in 2013. Ortiz’s lawyers sought clemen­cy from President Barack Obama on the grounds that Ortiz was intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled, his right to con­sular noti­fi­ca­tion under the Vienna Convention had been vio­lat­ed, he did not him­self com­mit the mur­der and was not in the room when it occurred, and had been denied effec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel at tri­al. On January 17, 2017, President Obama com­mut­ed his death sen­tence to life without parole.

Ronell Wilson — Black. Wilson’s case was the first fed­er­al death sen­tence hand­ed down in New York since 1954. Wilson, 24, was con­vict­ed of killing two under­cov­er police detec­tives in Staten Island in 2003. The jury rec­om­mend­ed a sen­tence of death on January 30, 2007. (Associated Press, February 1, 2007). The dis­trict court for­mal­ly sen­tenced Wilson to death on March 29, 2007. Three years lat­er, in June 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit over­turned Wilson’s death sen­tence because of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct: the pros­e­cu­tor improp­er­ly com­ment­ed on Wilson’s silence, in vio­la­tion of his con­sti­tu­tion­al priv­i­lege against self-incrim­i­na­tion and his right to a fair tri­al. The gov­ern­ment did not seek Supreme Court review of the cir­cuit’s deci­sion. On February 7, 2013, the District Court ruled that Wilson was not exempt from the death penal­ty because of men­tal retar­da­tion, and hence could be sub­ject to a cap­i­tal re-sen­tenc­ing tri­al. On July 24, 2013, a jury in Brooklyn, New York, vot­ed to resen­tence Wilson to death. The dis­trict court for­mal­ly imposed that sen­tence on September 10, 2013. On March 15, 2016, the dis­trict court review­ing Wilson’s sen­tence found that the ini­tial rul­ing on Wilson’s intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty had applied an inap­pro­pri­ate stan­dard for deter­min­ing his intel­lec­tu­al func­tion­ing, in vio­la­tion of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 Hall v. Florida. Applying the cor­rect stan­dard, the court ruled that Wilson was intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled and inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty. On June 26, 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced that it would not appeal the dis­trict court’s rul­ing. (Associated Press, June 27, 2017).

Donald Fell — White. On July 14, 2005, a jury in Vermont rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Fell, 25, for a car­jack­ing in Vermont and sub­se­quent mur­der of a woman in New York in 2000. He was con­vict­ed of car­jack­ing and kid­nap­ping result­ing in death. The woman and her car were seized by Fell and a code­fen­dant as they were flee­ing Vermont where Fell’s moth­er and a friend were also killed hours ear­li­er. The co-defen­dant hanged him­self in prison in 2003. Prosecutors had orig­i­nal­ly arranged a plea bar­gain for Fell in which he would have been sen­tenced to life with­out parole, but the deal was reject­ed by Attorney General John Ashcroft. This was the first cap­i­tal tri­al in Vermont in near­ly 50 years. (N.Y. Times, July 15, 2005). The con­vic­tion was over­turned in July 2014 because of juror mis­con­duct. (WCAX News, July 26, 2014). In July 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that pros­e­cu­tors could not admit into evi­dence state­ments made by Fell’s deceased co-defen­dant that attempt­ed to shift blame for the killing to Fell. (Vermont Digger, July 23, 2018). The par­ties sub­se­quent­ly reached a plea deal, which the dis­trict court approved on September 28, 2018, in which Fell was sen­tenced to life with­out parole. (Vermont Digger, Sept. 28, 2018).

Azibo Aquart — Black. On June 15, 2011, a jury in New Haven, Connecticut, rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Aquart’s role in a 2005 triple mur­der of mul­ti­ple alleged rivals in the drug busi­ness by lead­ers of a Jamaican drug gang. All vic­tims were black. Azikiwe Aquart (Azibo’s broth­er) also faced cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion in the offense. A third co-defen­dant, who coop­er­at­ed with the gov­ern­ment, did not face cap­i­tal charges. (CT Post, June 15, 2011). The court for­mal­ly sen­tenced Aquart to death on Dec. 17, 2012. His broth­er was sen­tenced to life ear­li­er. Aquart became the first per­son in Connecticut his­to­ry to receive the fed­er­al death penal­ty. (CT Post, Dec. 18, 2012). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld his con­vic­tion but over­turned his death sen­tence on December 20, 2018, find­ing that the pros­e­cu­tion improp­er­ly vouched for the tes­ti­mo­ny of a penal­ty-phase wit­ness. The gov­ern­men­t’s peti­tion for rehear­ing was denied in March 2019 and pros­e­cu­tors agreed not to seek review of the grant of relief in the Supreme Court. In December 2020, the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s office informed Aquart’s coun­sel that the gov­ern­ment would no longer be seek­ing death in the case and, on December 22, 2020, it noti­fied the fed­er­al dis­trict court of that deci­sion. (Associated Press, January 21, 2021).

Bruce Webster — Black. Webster was charged along­side Orlando Hall in Fort Worth, Texas with the abduc­tion, sex­u­al assault, and beat­ing mur­der of a 16-year-old black female. They were tried sep­a­rate­ly. Hall was sen­tenced to death in November 1995. Webster was sen­tenced to death in June 1996. Webster had been sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on April 16, 2007. After Webster joined the lethal injec­tion chal­lenge filed by oth­er fed­er­al death-row pris­on­ers, his exe­cu­tion was stayed. On June 18, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana vacat­ed his death sen­tence, find­ing that he was inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty because of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. That rul­ing was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on September 22, 2020. The appel­late court’s man­date issued on November 16 and Webster’s removal from death row became final when the Department of Justice did not seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Joseph Duncan — White. On August 27, 2008, a jury in Idaho returned a unan­i­mous ver­dict for a death sen­tence for Duncan after delib­er­at­ing for 3 hours. Duncan had plead­ed guilty to ten fed­er­al charges, includ­ing the mur­der and kid­nap­ping of a young boy and the kid­nap­ping of a young girl in May 2005. He insist­ed on defend­ing him­self, and offered no mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence and no clos­ing argu­ment in the sen­tenc­ing tri­al. (KNDO/​KNDU Web site, NBC affil­i­ates; also AP, Aug. 27, 2008). He sub­se­quent­ly tried to waive his appeals and, in December 2013, the fed­er­al dis­trict court ruled that he was com­pe­tent to do so. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld that rul­ing in 2015 and in 2016 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Duncan’s lawyers sub­se­quent­ly filed a motion to set aside his sen­tence and con­vic­tion, which the tri­al court denied on March 22, 2019. The appeal of that order was pend­ing when Duncan died of brain can­cer on March 28 2021.

Sherman Lamont Fields — Black. A jury sen­tenced Fields to death in con­nec­tion with the shoot­ing death of his girl­friend in 2001. The mur­der took place dur­ing Fields’ escape from a deten­tion cen­ter in Texas while Fields was being held on a fed­er­al weapons charge. However, the statu­to­ry basis for the death sen­tence was not the mur­der itself but that Fields had used and car­ried a firearm dur­ing and in rela­tion to a crime of vio­lence (con­spir­a­cy and the escape). Fields was sen­tenced to lengthy prison terms on the oth­er charges. A U.S. District Judge for­mal­ized the sen­tence in April 2004, and ordered Fields trans­ferred to Terre Haute, IN. (Associated Press, April 8, 2004). In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Davis that the ​“crime of vio­lence” lan­guage was uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly vague, which meant that crimes like con­spir­a­cy and escape that do not require force as an ele­ment do not con­sti­tute crimes of vio­lence. Citing Davis, Fields filed a motion seek­ing to vacate some of his con­vic­tions, includ­ing the con­vic­tion car­ry­ing a death sen­tence. In January 2021, the dis­trict court vacat­ed the con­vic­tion car­ry­ing a death sen­tence, as well as an addi­tion­al non-cap­i­tal con­vic­tion and sen­tence. Fields was resen­tenced on the remain­ing con­vic­tions on April 7, 2021.

Robert Bolden — Black. On May 23, 2006, a fed­er­al jury in St. Louis, Missouri, rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Bolden for the mur­der of a white bank secu­ri­ty guard, Nathan Ley, dur­ing an attempt­ed rob­bery in St. Louis in 2002. Two accom­plices plead­ed guilty to attempt­ed bank rob­bery. The for­mal sen­tenc­ing took place on August 25, 2006. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 23, 2006). Bolden is a Canadian cit­i­zen. Bolden died on death row in September 2021 of com­pli­ca­tions from dia­betes and poor medical care.

Gary Sampson — White. Sampson pled guilty to the car­jack­ing and mur­der of two Massachusetts men dur­ing a week­long crime spree. A jury sen­tenced Sampson to death on December 23, 2003. Sampson is only the sec­ond fed­er­al case tried in Massachusetts since the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment rein­stat­ed the fed­er­al death penal­ty in 1988. (Las Vegas Sun, December 23, 2003) Judge Mark L. Wolf sen­tenced Sampson to death, but ordered that the exe­cu­tion be car­ried out in New Hampshire, which has not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion since 1939. (Boston Globe, January 30, 2004). Judge Wolf over­turned Sampson’s sen­tence because a juror had made sig­nif­i­cant mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tions dur­ing voir dire. (Boston Globe, Oct. 20, 2011). After the gov­ern­ment appealed, the U.S Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the dis­trict court’s rever­sal of sen­tence. (July 25, 2013). Prosecutors cap­i­tal­ly retried Sampson. The jury re-sen­tenced him to death on one of the two mur­der charges, but did not reach a unan­i­mous ver­dict on the sec­ond charge, which result­ed in the impo­si­tion of a life sen­tence for that mur­der. (Associated Press, January 9, 2017) On August 16, 2017, the dis­trict court denied Sampson’s post-tri­al motions, affirm­ing the death sen­tence imposed in his case. (Boston Globe, August 16, 2017). Sampson died of can­cer on death row December 21, 2021. (Associated Press, December 23, 2021).

Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. — Latinx. Convicted on August 30, 2006, of the mur­der of a col­lege stu­dent, Dru Sjodin. Sjodin was kid­napped from North Dakota and her body was found in Minnesota. A jury in North Dakota rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence on September 22. The judge for­mal­ly sen­tenced Rodriguez to death on Feb. 8, 2007. North Dakota does not have a state death penal­ty and has not had an exe­cu­tion since 1905. The judge des­ig­nat­ed South Dakota as the place of exe­cu­tion. (Associated Press, Sept. 22, 2006; N.Y. Times, Feb. 9, 2007). Rodriguez’s death sen­tence was reversed by the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota on September 3, 2021 (with an amend­ed opin­ion issued January 3, 2022) for inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel in the penal­ty phase of tri­al for fail­ing to inves­ti­gate and present men­tal health mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence. That evi­dence includ­ed that Rodriguez had sig­nif­i­cant­ly impaired intel­lec­tu­al capac­i­ty, ​“suf­fered from post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der (‘PTSD’) so severe that he some­times has dis­so­cia­tive expe­ri­ences,” and had deficits in func­tion­ing equiv­a­lent to those of an indi­vid­ual with Intellectual Disability. The dis­trict court also found that the pros­e­cu­tion had ​“pre­sent­ed unsup­port­ed, mis­lead­ing, and inac­cu­rate tes­ti­mo­ny regard­ing the [victim’s] cause of … death” that could have affect­ed the sen­tenc­ing ver­dict. Federal pros­e­cu­tors ini­tial­ly filed notice that they would appeal that deci­sion, but sub­se­quent­ly with­drew the appeal. On March 14, 2023, the North Dakota U.S. Attorney’s office with­drew the notice of intent to seek the death penal­ty in Rodriguez’s cap­i­tal resentencing proceedings.

Nasih Ra’id (for­mer­ly Odell Corley) — Black. On October 29, 2004, a jury rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Ra’id for the mur­der of two white bank employ­ees dur­ing a rob­bery attempt at a Porter, Indiana bank in 2002. Ra’id’s sen­tence will be the first one in the his­to­ry of the Northern District of Indiana fed­er­al court sys­tem. The judge is required to impose the sen­tence against Ra’id, who was alleged to be the trig­ger­man in the rob­bery. Two co-defen­dants plead­ed guilty and were giv­en less­er sen­tences. (Indiana Herald-Argus, October 29, 2004). Mr. Ra’id died on December 1, 2023. (Indiana Public Media, December 4, 2023)

Jury Verdict for Death Overturned Before Being Formally Imposed

George Lecco (male) and Valerie Friend (female) — Both White. On May 29, 2007, a jury in Charleston, West Virginia, rec­om­mend­ed death sen­tences for both defen­dants for the mur­der of Carla Collins in order to pro­tect their drug ring. Prosecutors main­tained that Lecco arranged to have Collins killed and that Friend did the shoot­ing in 2005. These were the first fed­er­al death ver­dicts in West Virginia since the fed­er­al law was rein­stat­ed in 1988. (Charleston Daily Mail, May 29, 2007). Lecco and Friend’s con­vic­tions were over­turned by the fed­er­al dis­trict court in May 2009 before the judge had for­mal­ly imposed the jury’s death sen­tence, because one of the jurors at the tri­al, William Griffith, had not dis­closed that he was being inves­ti­gat­ed by the same U.S. Attorney’s Office that was pros­e­cut­ing Lecco and Friend for alleged­ly pos­sess­ing child pornog­ra­phy. (Williamson Daily News, May 7, 2009). A new tri­al date of October 27, 2009 was set for Friend, and the pros­e­cu­tion indi­cat­ed that it intend­ed to again seek the death penal­ty. On October 1, 2009, Friend entered a deal with the pros­e­cu­tion in which she plead­ed guilty to a num­ber of charges — includ­ing the mur­der of Collins — and agreed to coop­er­ate against her co-defen­dant in exchange for being sen­tenced to life in prison. (Assoc. Press, Oct. 1, 2009). On May 3, 2010, a fed­er­al jury chose not to sen­tence Lecco to death after find­ing him guilty. He was sen­tenced to life with­out parole. (Charleston Gazette, May 3, 2010).

John Wayne Johnson — Black. On May 27, 2009, a jury in New Orleans, Louisiana, unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Johnson for the mur­der of an off-duty sher­if­f’s deputy work­ing as a guard dur­ing a bank rob­bery. There were two oth­er accom­plices in the 2004 rob­bery in which offi­cer Sidney Zaffuto was killed. Johnson admit­ted he shot Zaffuto, but said it was unin­ten­tion­al. The jury found him guilty on May 19. Johnson’s attor­neys planned to appeal on sev­er­al grounds, includ­ing an asser­tion that the fed­er­al death penal­ty was being employed uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly in New Orleans because all 42 defen­dants indict­ed on cap­i­tal offens­es were either black or Hispanic. (Times-Picayune, May 27, 2009). The District Court judge delayed for­mal sen­tenc­ing until February 3, 2010 to per­mit the defense more time to chal­lenge the tri­al. Prior to for­mal sen­tenc­ing, the District Court vacat­ed Johnson’s death ver­dict and ordered a new penal­ty hear­ing for mul­ti­ple con­sti­tu­tion­al vio­la­tions includ­ing: admis­sion of improp­er vic­tim-impact evi­dence; a dis­cov­ery vio­la­tion relat­ed to this vic­tim-impact evi­dence; intro­duc­tion of an unad­ju­di­cat­ed mur­der that the jury had found was not proven beyond a rea­son­able doubt; and improp­er gov­ern­ment argu­ment in the penal­ty phase that (a) com­pared the worth of the defen­dant and the vic­tim, (b) com­pared con­di­tions of a life sen­tence to the per­ma­nen­cy of the vic­tim’s death, and (c) pres­sured the jury into believ­ing that a life sen­tence would be a capit­u­la­tion. (Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel, May 18, 2010). On March 29, 2011, the U.S. Attorney moved to dis­miss its appeal of the District Court’s order vacat­ing Johnson’s death sen­tence and that motion was grant­ed. The pros­e­cu­tors sub­se­quent­ly with­drew their autho­riza­tion to seek the death penal­ty and Johnson was for­mal­ly sen­tenced to life with­out parole.
 

Sentenced to death and executed

Timothy McVeigh — White. McVeigh was sen­tenced to death in June 1997 for the bomb­ing of the Oklahoma City fed­er­al build­ing in 1995. The United States Supreme Court denied review on March 8, 1999. McVeigh was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on May 16, 2001 but was grant­ed a 30-day stay of exe­cu­tion by Attorney General John Ashcroft after it was dis­cov­ered that the FBI had failed to dis­close more than 3,000 pages of doc­u­ment to McVeigh’s defense team. McVeigh was exe­cut­ed on June 11, 2001.McVeigh’s co-defen­dant, Terry Nichols, was cap­i­tal­ly pros­e­cut­ed by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment in a sep­a­rate tri­al. He was con­vict­ed by the jury and sen­tenced to life with­out parole. Nichols was lat­er cap­i­tal­ly tried in Oklahoma state court for the mur­ders of the 161 non-fed­er­al employ­ees in Oklahoma City. He was con­vict­ed, and again the jury sen­tenced him to life in prison without parole.

Juan Raul Garza — Latinx. Garza, a mar­i­jua­na dis­trib­u­tor, was sen­tenced to death in August 1993 in Texas for the mur­ders of three oth­er drug traf­fick­ers. Garza was denied review by the U.S. Supreme Court in late 1999 and was fac­ing an exe­cu­tion date of August 5, 2000. The date was post­poned until the Justice Department fin­ished draft­ing guide­lines for fed­er­al death row inmates seek­ing pres­i­den­tial clemen­cy, which were issued in ear­ly August. Garza was offered the oppor­tu­ni­ty to apply for clemen­cy under the new guide­lines and a new exe­cu­tion date of Dec. 12, 2000 was set. In December, 2000, President Clinton again delayed Garza’s exe­cu­tion for at least six months to allow fur­ther study of the fair­ness of the fed­er­al death penal­ty. Garza was exe­cut­ed on June 19, 2001.

Louis Jones — Black. Jones was sen­tenced to death in November 1995 in Texas for the kidnap/​murder of a young white female sol­dier. The United States Supreme Court grant­ed review of the case and heard argu­ments on February 22, 1999. The Supreme Court affirmed the con­vic­tion on June 21, 1999. Jones, a dec­o­rat­ed Gulf War vet­er­an who had no pri­or crim­i­nal record, claimed that his expo­sure to nerve gas in Iraq and post-trau­mat­ic stress from his com­bat tours con­tributed to his mur­der of Pvt. Tracie Joy McBride in Texas. President Bush refused Jones’ clemen­cy request. Jones was exe­cut­ed on March 18, 2003.

Daniel Lee — White. Lee was con­vict­ed in Arkansas in May 1999 of the triple mur­der of a gun deal­er and his fam­i­ly. Lee was con­vict­ed along with Chevie Kehoe in a plot to set up a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. Although pros­e­cu­tors con­sid­ered Kehoe the mas­ter­mind of the plot, the same jury that sen­tenced Lee to death sen­tenced Kehoe to life. The court for­mal­ly sen­tenced Lee to death on May 13, 2002. Lee was exe­cut­ed on July 14, 2020.

Wesley Purkey — White. A jury rec­om­mend­ed that Purkey be sen­tenced to death for the 1998 kid­nap­ping, rape, and mur­der of a Kansas City, Missouri, teen. While serv­ing life in prison for anoth­er 1998 mur­der in Kansas, Purkey con­fessed to the Kansas City crime in hopes of being trans­ferred to fed­er­al prison. Prosecutors instead chose to seek the death penal­ty for Purkey under the 1994 fed­er­al statute. The judge is required to fol­low the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion. (Kansas City Star, November 19, 2003) Purkey was exe­cut­ed on July 16, 2020.

Dustin Honken — White. On October 27, 2004 a fed­er­al jury vot­ed to sen­tence Honken to death for the mur­der of two girls in Iowa in 1993. Honken was also giv­en three life sen­tences: one for the mur­der of the girls’ moth­er, and two more for the mur­ders of two oth­er adults who were to have tes­ti­fied against Honken in a fed­er­al drug case. The chil­dren, white girls age 10 and 6, were wit­ness­es to the mur­der of their moth­er. The judge is required to uphold the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion and impose the death sen­tence. (Des Moines Register, October 28, 2004). This is the third fed­er­al death sen­tence hand­ed down in a state that does not have the death penal­ty in its own law. The oth­er two were in Michigan and Massachusetts. Honken was exe­cut­ed on July 17, 2020.

Lezmond Mitchell — Native American. Mitchell and his co-defen­dants (includ­ing a juve­nile) alleged­ly got a ride from a woman and her 9 year old grand­daugh­ter in Arizona. They killed both vic­tims and stole the car sup­pos­ed­ly for use in an armed rob­bery. Each vic­tim was stabbed at a sep­a­rate loca­tion. The Attorney General autho­rized a cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion against Mitchell under a car­jack­ing the­o­ry — although the mur­ders occurred on Navajo trib­al land and the tribe had not ​“opt­ed in” to the fed­er­al death penal­ty. Attorney General Ashcroft direct­ed that the case be tried cap­i­tal­ly with­out con­sult­ing the trib­al gov­ern­ment. Mitchell was found guilty on May 20, and sen­tenced to death on September 15, 2003. Mitchell was exe­cut­ed on August 26, 2020.

Keith Nelson — White. Nelson was con­vict­ed of kid­nap­ping a girl from her Kansas home and mur­der­ing her in Missouri. On November 28, 2001 a jury rec­om­mend­ed the death penal­ty for Nelson, and on March 11, 2002, a fed­er­al judge imposed the death penal­ty. Nelson was exe­cut­ed August 28, 2020.

William LeCroy, Jr. — White. A jury sen­tenced LeCroy to death in the 2001 car­jack­ing and mur­der of a North Georgia woman. Attorneys for LeCroy argued that the mur­der took place inside the vic­tim’s house, and thus did not fall under the 1994 fed­er­al death penal­ty statute. The judge is required to fol­low the jury rec­om­men­da­tion. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 11, 2004). LeCroy was exe­cut­ed September 22, 2020.

Christopher Vialva — Black+. Vialva and his co-defen­dant Brandon Bernard were con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by a fed­er­al jury in Waco, TX in June 2000 for the car­jack­ing and mur­der of an Iowa cou­ple. The mur­der became a fed­er­al case because it occurred on a remote par­cel of fed­er­al land near Fort Hood in cen­tral Texas. Vialva was 19 years old at the time of the mur­ders, and Bernard was 18. Four younger teenagers, aged 15 and 16, also pled guilty to fed­er­al charges relat­ing to the crime. Vialva was exe­cut­ed September 24, 2020. He was the first teenaged offend­er exe­cut­ed under the aus­pices of the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment in 72 years.
+ Vialva was bira­cial. His moth­er is white; his father is from the West Indies and of African descent.

Orlando Hall — Black. Hall was charged along­side Bruce Webster in Fort Worth, Texas with the abduc­tion, sex­u­al assault, and beat­ing mur­der of a 16-year-old black female. They were tried sep­a­rate­ly. Hall was sen­tenced to death in November 1995. Webster was sen­tenced to death in June 1996. Hall was exe­cut­ed on November 19, 2020.

Brandon Bernard — Black. A fed­er­al jury in Waco, TX, con­vict­ed Bernard and his co-defen­dant Christopher Vialva in June 2000, of car­jack­ing and the mur­der of an Iowa cou­ple on a remote par­cel of fed­er­al land near Fort Hood in cen­tral Texas. Both were sen­tenced to death. Bernard was 18 years old at the time of the mur­ders, and is the youngest offend­er on fed­er­al death row in more than 70 years. Vialva, who was 19-years-old at the time of his offense, was exe­cut­ed on September 24, 2020. Four younger teenagers also pled guilty to fed­er­al charges relat­ing to the crime. Bernard was exe­cut­ed on December 10, 2020.

Alfred Bourgeois — Black. On March 24, 2004 a jury rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Alfred Bourgeois for the 2002 mur­der of his daugh­ter at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in Texas, based in part on the tes­ti­mo­ny of a pris­on­er housed with Bourgeois. The judge is required to fol­low the jury’s sen­tenc­ing rec­om­men­da­tion. (Department of Justice Press Release, March 24, 2004). Bourgeois was exe­cut­ed on December 11, 2020.

Lisa Montgomery — White/​Female. On Oct. 26, 2007, a jury in Kansas City, Missouri rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence for Montgomery fol­low­ing her con­vic­tion for kid­nap­ping and killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett, also white, and steal­ing her unborn baby. Montgomery took the baby with her to Kansas and claimed the baby was her child. (Kansas City Star, Oct. 26, 2007). Montgomery was for­mal­ly sen­tenced to death on April 4, 2008 in U.S. District Court. (Topeka Capital-Journal, Apr. 3, 2008). She became the third woman on the fed­er­al death row. Montgomery was exe­cut­ed on January 13, 2021.

Corey Johnson — Black. Johnson was a mem­ber of an inner-city gang in Richmond, VA. He was sen­tenced to death in February 1993 for his par­tic­i­pa­tion in a series of drug-relat­ed mur­ders. Execution dates were set for Johnson and his two co-defen­dants in May 2006, but the exe­cu­tions were stayed because of a chal­lenge to the lethal injec­tion process. Johnson was exe­cut­ed on January 14, 2021.

Dustin John Higgs — Black. Higgs was con­vict­ed in October 2000 of order­ing the 1996 mur­der of three Maryland women after argu­ing with one of them in his apart­ment. The trig­ger­man, Willis Mark Haynes, was con­vict­ed in May 2000 and sen­tenced to life plus 45 years in prison. Higgs’s case was the third death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion in Maryland since the fed­er­al death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1988, but marked the first time a jury imposed the death penal­ty. (Washington Post, 10/​27/​00). The pros­e­cu­tion wit­ness who tes­ti­fied that Higgs ordered him to com­mit the killings lat­er recant­ed his tes­ti­mo­ny and Higgs insist­ed up until the moment of the exe­cu­tion that he was inno­cent of the mur­ders. Higgs was exe­cut­ed on January 16, 2021.

Note: Because of dif­fer­ent def­i­n­i­tions of what con­sti­tutes being ​“on death row,” some orga­ni­za­tions such as the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel or the Bureau of Justice Statistics, may have a slight­ly dif­fer­ent list of those on death row. Names in [ ] are defen­dants whose con­vic­tion or death sen­tence have been reversed but who still face the pos­si­bil­i­ty of being resen­tenced to death on retri­al. This list may also include pris­on­ers who have been sen­tenced to death by a jury, but the judge has not yet for­mal­ly imposed the sen­tence. These cas­es are marked with an asterisk (*).

See also list of fed­er­al pris­on­ers exe­cut­ed since 1927.