Indiana

History of the Death Penalty

The death penal­ty has been present in Indiana for much of the state’s his­to­ry. Death penal­ty laws were part of Indiana’s leg­is­la­tion and cul­ture even before Indiana was grant­ed state­hood in 1816. Hangings were fair­ly fre­quent in the 1800’s, and in some cas­es pub­lic hang­ings result­ed in vio­lent mobs that killed the inmate even before they were hung. This changed with the intro­duc­tion of the elec­tric chair, which became the pri­ma­ry method of exe­cu­tion in 1913. The death penal­ty is still used, but exe­cu­tions have been lim­it­ed in num­ber since rein­state­ment in 1978, with less than 25 executions.

Timeline

1816 — Indiana is grant­ed state­hood. Death penal­ty laws were apart of Indiana ter­ri­to­ry-cul­ture and leg­is­la­ture pri­or to statehood.

1913 — The elec­tric chair becomes the pri­ma­ry method of exe­cu­tion in Indiana. Previously, hang­ing was the pri­ma­ry method of execution.

1961 — Richard Kiefer is the last per­son exe­cut­ed pri­or to a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty in 1972.

1973 — The Indiana General Assembly enacts a new death penal­ty sen­tenc­ing statute to replace the leg­is­la­tion struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia.

1977 — The Indiana Supreme Court strikes down Indiana’s 1972 death penal­ty sen­tenc­ing scheme in response to the court’s deci­sion in Woodson v. North Carolina. Eight men on Indiana’s death row have their sen­tences set aside as a result.

1985 — William Vandiver’s elec­tro­cu­tion exe­cu­tion is botched. After the first admin­is­tra­tion of 2,300 Volts, Vandiver was still breath­ing, and Herbert Shaps, Vandiver’s attor­ney, observed smoke and the smell of burn­ing upon wit­ness­ing Vandiver’s execution.

1986 — At six­teen years old, Paula Cooper is the youngest per­son to be sen­tenced to death in Indiana.

1995 — Gregory Resnover is the last per­son to be put to death by elec­tro­cu­tion in Indiana.

1995 — The Indiana Legislature pass­es and the gov­er­nor signs a law mak­ing lethal injec­tion the pri­ma­ry method of exe­cu­tion in Indiana.

1996 — Tommie Smith’s exe­cu­tion is botched in Indiana’s first exe­cu­tion by lethal injec­tion. It took one hour and nine min­utes for Smith to be pro­nounced dead after the exe­cu­tion team strug­gled to find adequate veins.

2002 — Governor Frank O’Bannon signs SB 426, mak­ing Indiana the 16^th state to for­bid the death penal­ty for those who were 18 years-of-age at the time of their crime.

2014 — Indiana offi­cials decide to switch to the drug Brevital in their lethal injec­tion process due to a short­age of sodium thiopental.

2017 — The Indiana Court of Appeals voids the state’s lethal-injec­tions pro­to­col, hold­ing that Indiana’s Department of Corrections had failed to com­ply with state rule­mak­ing pro­ce­dures when it adopt­ed a nev­er-before-used exe­cu­tion pro­to­col with­out pub­lic notice or comment.

2020 — The first fed­er­al exe­cu­tion in 17 years is car­ried out in Indiana. A 5 – 4 Supreme Court rul­ing cleared the way for the exe­cu­tion of Daniel Lewis Lee at the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute.

2021 — The Indiana Supreme Court requires the Indiana Department of Corrections to release doc­u­ments regard­ing efforts to obtain lethal injec­tion drugs and orders the depart­ment to pay more than a half mil­lion dol­lars in attor­ney fees for its bad faith non-com­pli­ance with the state’s pub­lic records act.

2024 — After a 15-year hia­tus, Indiana announced plans to resume exe­cu­tions on December 18, 2024. Joseph Corcoran, the man sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed, is severe­ly men­tal­ly ill and waived his appeals.

Famous Cases

Debra Denise Brown, along with Alton Coleman, was con­vict­ed for rap­ing, rob­bing and mur­der­ing sev­er­al vic­tims through­out the sum­mer of 1984. Both Brown and Coleman were sen­tenced to death in Indiana and Ohio. Brown’s death sen­tence in Ohio was com­mut­ed to life with­out parole large­ly due to ques­tions raised about her intel­lec­tu­al func­tion­ing and men­tal abil­i­ty, as well as the depen­den­cy on Coleman to com­mit the crimes. The same con­cerns led to her Indiana death sen­tence being mod­i­fied to a 140-year sen­tence. Her part­ner, Coleman, was exe­cut­ed in 2002.

Notable Exonerations

In 1978, Larry Hicks was sen­tenced to death for the stab­bings of Norton Miller and Stephen Crosby at a neigh­bor’s par­ty. He was seen ear­li­er threat­en­ing the two indi­vid­u­als with a knife. The Playboy Foundation became inter­est­ed in Hicks’ claim of inno­cence and grant­ed Hicks mon­ey for a retri­al after he passed a lie detec­tor test. He was grant­ed a retri­al based on inef­fec­tive rep­re­sen­ta­tion at his first tri­al, and the con­vic­tion was over­turned once eye­wit­ness­es recant­ed their tes­ti­monies and Hicks pro­vid­ed an ali­bi. He was released from death row in 1980 and cleared of charges.

Notable Commutations/​Clemencies

Arthur Baird​’s sto­ry is an exam­ple of how men­tal ill­ness can impact death penal­ty cas­es. Baird stran­gled his wife, Nadine Baird, killing her and their unborn child in 1985. The next morn­ing he went on to stab his par­ents, Arthur and Kathryn Baird. The unusu­al cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing his case, includ­ing hold­ing his dead wife for hours in front of a tele­vi­sion and feed­ing his chick­ens and receiv­ing a hair­cut before killing his par­ents, raised ques­tions about Baird’s san­i­ty. Although the Board of Paroles denied his peti­tion for clemen­cy, Governor Mitch Daniels grant­ed Baird clemen­cy on August 9, 2009, the day before his scheduled execution.

Other Interesting Facts

Over time, Indiana has uti­lized three meth­ods of exe­cu­tion. Until 1913, hang­ing was the pri­ma­ry method of exe­cu­tion for those sen­tenced to death. Electrocution was then used until 1995, when lethal injec­tion was first used. Lethal injec­tion is the cur­rent pri­ma­ry method of exe­cu­tion in Indiana.

According to Indiana codes, the exe­cu­tion of a death row inmate must take place before sun­rise on the execution day.

On July 1, 2002, Indiana shift­ed away from sen­tenc­ing in death penal­ty cas­es with a judge towards sen­tenc­ing with a jury. The judge is only to get involved should the jury not unan­i­mous­ly agree on the death sentence.

Resources

• American Bar Association Indiana Death Penalty Assessment
• Department of Corrections
• Prosecutors
• Indiana Public Defender Council (death penalty links)
• Indi­ana Abolition Coalition

Indiana Execution Totals Since 1976