Wyoming

Timeline

1871 - John Boyer becomes the first man to be legally executed in Wyoming and is publicly hanged in front of a Wyoming jail.

1977 - Wyoming reinstates the death penalty following Furman v. Georgia.

1992 - Wyoming carries out most recent execution, executing Mark Hopkinson by lethal injection.

2001 - Governor Jim Geringer signs a law to add the sentencing option of life without parole as an alternative penalty for defendants convicted of first-degree murder.

2004 - The Wyoming Legislature passes a bill banning the death penalty for juveniles, making Wyoming one of the last states to do so before the Supreme Court banned the practice in Roper v. Simmons.

2014 - Dale Wayne Eaton becomes the last person to be removed from Wyoming’s death row when his death sentence is overturned.

2019 - A bipartisan coalition of legislators introduces a bill to abolish Wyoming’s death penalty.

2020 - Governor Mark Gordon informs legislators that he is “very seriously” considering imposing a moratorium on the state’s death penalty.

2021 - A Wyoming senate committee advances a bill to repeal the state’s death penalty to the full Senate. The state senate defeats the bill by a 4-1 vote.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

Wyoming was one of the last states to ban the execution of juvenile offenders before the Supreme Court banned the practice in Roper v. Simmons. The state legislature passed a bill banning the death penalty for juveniles in 2004.

Other Interesting Facts

The last execution in Wyoming was that of Mark Hopkinson in 1992. The death sentence of the last person on Wyoming’s death row, Dale Wayne Eaton, was overturned on November 20, 2014. Wyoming prosecutors waived the death penalty in the case on September 27, 2021.

Resources

• Department of Corrections
• Public defender’s office
• ACLU of Wyoming
• Victims’ services

Wyoming Execution Totals Since 1976