Stays of Execution 2022 

Date of Scheduled Execution
January
6
StateOK
PrisonerWade Lay
Reason for StaySTAY GRANTED by the Pittsburg County District Court on December 6, 2021 until a men­tal com­pe­ten­cy tri­al is con­duct­ed ​“so as to ensure an incom­pe­tent per­son is not irrepara­bly harmed by way of exe­cu­tion, in con­tra­ven­tion of his constitutional rights.”
12
StateOH
PrisonerWarren ​“Keith” Henness
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for December 17, 2024.
27
StateAL
PrisonerMatthew Reeves
Reason for StayPreliminary injunc­tion grant­ed by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on January 7, 2022 bar­ring the Alabama Department of Corrections ​“from exe­cut­ing [Reeves] by any method oth­er than nitro­gen hypox­ia before his [Americans With Disabilities Act] claim can be decid­ed on its mer­its.” Preliminary injunc­tion affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on January 26, 2022. INJUNCTION VACATED by 5 – 4 vote of U.S. Supreme Court on January 27, 2022. EXECUTED.
February
16
StateOH
PrisonerStanley Adams
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for February 19, 2025.
March
8
StateTX
PrisonerMichael Gonzales
Reason for StaySTAY GRANTED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on March 3, 2022 to per­mit Gonzales to lit­i­gate claims that “(1) he is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled and can­not con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly be exe­cut­ed; (2) the State
sup­pressed mate­r­i­al excul­pa­to­ry and impeach­ing infor­ma­tion in vio­la­tion of Brady v. Maryland.”
10
StateOK
PrisonerJames Allen Coddington
Reason for StaySTAY GRANTED by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on December 23, 2021 pur­suant to joint stip­u­la­tion of the par­ties after the order dis­miss­ing Coddington from the ongo­ing Oklahoma lethal-injec­tion law­suit was vacat­ed and he was restored as a plain­tiff in that lawsuit.
16
StateOH
PrisonerRomell Broom
Reason for StayDIED ON DEATH ROW on December 28, 2020 of COVID-19.
April

21

StateOH
PrisonerJohn Drummond
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for April 16, 2025.
21
StateTN
PrisonerOscar Smith
Reason for StayREPRIEVE grant­ed by Governor Bill Lee min­utes before the sched­uled exe­cu­tion on April 21, 2022: ​“Due to an over­sight in prepa­ra­tion for lethal injec­tion, the sched­uled exe­cu­tion of Oscar Smith will not move for­ward tonight. I am grant­i­ng a tem­po­rary reprieve while we address Tennessee Department of Correction pro­to­col. Further details will be released when available.”
27
StateTX
PrisonerMelissa Lucio
Reason for StaySTAY GRANTED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on April 25, 2022 and case remand­ed to the tri­al court to con­duct a hear­ing on Lucio’s claims that ​“but for the State’s use of false tes­ti­mo­ny, no juror would have con­vict­ed her; pre­vi­ous­ly unavail­able sci­en­tif­ic
evi­dence would pre­clude her con­vic­tion; she is actu­al­ly inno­cent; [and] … the State sup­pressed favor­able, mate­r­i­al evi­dence in vio­la­tion of Brady v. Maryland.” (claim numbers omitted)
29
StateSC
PrisonerRichard Moore
Reason for StaySTAYED for an indef­i­nite peri­od by the South Carolina Supreme Court on April 20, 2022, with as yet unre­leased explana­to­ry order to follow.
May
10
StateTN
PrisonerMichael Rimmer
Reason for StayLegally pre­ma­ture death war­rant STAYED
13
StateSC
PrisonerBrad Sigmon
Reason for StaySTAYED by South Carolina Supreme on April 22, 2022.
17
StateGA
PrisonerVirgil Presnell, Jr.
Reason for StaySTAYED by the Fulton County Superior Court on May 16, 2022 on the grounds that the exe­cu­tion date vio­lat­ed an agree­ment that estab­lished con­di­tions under which exe­cu­tions could resume after the pandemic.
18
StateOH
PrisonerJames Hanna
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for May 14, 2025.
June
9
StateTN
PrisonerHarold Nichols
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion of exe­cu­tion protocol oversight
July
13
StateTX
PrisonerRamiro Gonzales
Reason for StaySTAY GRANTED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on July 11, 2022 to per­mit Gonzales to lit­i­gate a claim that his death sen­tence was obtained through the pre­sen­ta­tion of false expert tes­ti­mo­ny con­cern­ing his alleged future dangerousness.
20
StateOH
PrisonerAustin Myers
Reason for StayDATE REMOVED
August

18

StateTN
PrisonerByron Black
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion of exe­cu­tion protocol oversight
September

14

StateOH
PrisonerJames Tench
Reason for StayLegally pre­ma­ture death war­rant. STAY GRANTED by the Ohio Supreme Court on August 26, 2020 pend­ing dis­po­si­tion of state post­con­vic­tion reme­dies avail­able to all Ohio pris­on­ers. ​“The stay shall remain in effect until exhaus­tion of all state post­con­vic­tion pro­ceed­ings, includ­ing any appeals.”
15
StateOH
PrisonerKareem Jackson
Reason for Stay REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on May 13, 2022 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for December 10, 2025.
22
StateAL
PrisonerAlan Eugene Miller
Reason for StayEXECUTION HALTED by Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm short­ly before mid­night (Central Time) on September 22, 2022 when the exe­cu­tion team report­ed that it would not be able to set an IV line before the death war­rant expired.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama had issued a pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion on September 19, 2022 enjoin­ing Alabama ​“from exe­cut­ing Alan Eugene Miller by any method oth­er than nitro­gen hypox­ia.” On the after­noon of September 22, 2022, a pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit by a 2 – 1 vote denied the motion to stay injunc­tion filed by the state attor­ney gen­er­al. At about 9:15 p.m. Central time, the Supreme Court VACATED THE INJUNCTION with­out opin­ion by a 5 – 4 vote, leav­ing Alabama approx­i­mate­ly 2½ hours to car­ry out the exe­cu­tion before the warrant expired.
October
6
StateTN
PrisonerGary Sutton
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion of exe­cu­tion protocol oversight
17
StateTN
PrisonerUrshawn Miller
Reason for StayLegally pre­ma­ture death war­rant. REPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 12, 2022 until December 31, 2022.
26
StateOH
PrisonerQuisi Bryan
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on June 24, 2022 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for January 7, 2026.
November
16
StateTX
PrisonerStephen Barbee
Reason for StayThe United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas grant­ed Barbee a pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion on November 3, 2022 on reli­gious rights grounds. The injunc­tion was vacat­ed on November 14th. On November 15, the dis­trict court grant­ed an amend­ed pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion. On November 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit VACATED the amend­ed preliminary injunction.
17
StateAL
PrisonerKenneth Smith
Reason for StayEXECUTION HALTED short­ly before mid­night (Central Time) on November 17, 2022 when the exe­cu­tion team report­ed that it would not be able to set an IV line before the death warrant expired.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit grant­ed Smith a stay of exe­cu­tion on November 17, 2022 as a result of Smith’s chal­lenge to Alabama’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. The United States Supreme Courtvacat­ed the stay.
December

8

StateTN
PrisonerDonald Middlebrooks
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion of exe­cu­tion protocol oversight
8
StateOK
PrisonerRichard Glossip
Reason for StayREPRIEVED by Governor Kevin Stitt on November 3, 2022 ​“to allow time for the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to address pend­ing legal pro­ceed­ings,” and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for February 16, 2023.
15
StateOK
PrisonerJohn Hanson
Reason for StayWARRANT EXPIRED. Oklahoma sched­uled John Hanson’s exe­cu­tion while he was in fed­er­al cus­tody, with­out first obtain­ing agree­ment his cus­tody would be trans­ferred. The Federal Bureau of Prisons sub­se­quent­ly denied Oklahoma’s demand to trans­fer cus­tody pri­or to com­ple­tion of Hanson’s fed­er­al sen­tence. Oklahoma post­poned Hanson’s clemen­cy hear­ing, a pre­req­ui­site to his exe­cu­tion, and a fed­er­al dis­trict court ruled against Oklahoma’s effort to force BOP to turn over Hanson for exe­cu­tion, caus­ing his exe­cu­tion war­rant to expire.
15
StateID
PrisonerGerald Pizzuto, Jr.
Reason for StayWARRANT EXPIRED. The Idaho Department of Corrections announced on November 30, 2022 that it had been unable to obtain the lethal injec­tion drugs nec­es­sary to car­ry out the exe­cu­tion and that it would allow Pizzuto’s death war­rant to expire.
Date of Scheduled Execution State Prisoner Reason for Stay
January
6OKWade LaySTAY GRANTED by the Pittsburg County District Court on December 6, 2021 until a men­tal com­pe­ten­cy tri­al is con­duct­ed ​“so as to ensure an incom­pe­tent per­son is not irrepara­bly harmed by way of exe­cu­tion, in con­tra­ven­tion of his constitutional rights.”
12OHWarren ​“Keith” HennessREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for December 17, 2024.
27ALMatthew ReevesPreliminary injunc­tion grant­ed by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on January 7, 2022 bar­ring the Alabama Department of Corrections ​“from exe­cut­ing [Reeves] by any method oth­er than nitro­gen hypox­ia before his [Americans With Disabilities Act] claim can be decid­ed on its mer­its.” Preliminary injunc­tion affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on January 26, 2022. INJUNCTION VACATED by 5 – 4 vote of U.S. Supreme Court on January 27, 2022. EXECUTED.
February
16OHStanley AdamsREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for February 19, 2025.
March
8TXMichael GonzalesSTAY GRANTED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on March 3, 2022 to per­mit Gonzales to lit­i­gate claims that “(1) he is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled and can­not con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly be exe­cut­ed; (2) the State
sup­pressed mate­r­i­al excul­pa­to­ry and impeach­ing infor­ma­tion in vio­la­tion of Brady v. Maryland.”
10OKJames Allen CoddingtonSTAY GRANTED by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on December 23, 2021 pur­suant to joint stip­u­la­tion of the par­ties after the order dis­miss­ing Coddington from the ongo­ing Oklahoma lethal-injec­tion law­suit was vacat­ed and he was restored as a plain­tiff in that lawsuit.
16OHRomell Broom DIED ON DEATH ROW on December 28, 2020 of COVID-19.
April

21

OHJohn DrummondREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for April 16, 2025.
21TNOscar SmithREPRIEVE grant­ed by Governor Bill Lee min­utes before the sched­uled exe­cu­tion on April 21, 2022: ​“Due to an over­sight in prepa­ra­tion for lethal injec­tion, the sched­uled exe­cu­tion of Oscar Smith will not move for­ward tonight. I am grant­i­ng a tem­po­rary reprieve while we address Tennessee Department of Correction pro­to­col. Further details will be released when available.”
27TXMelissa LucioSTAY GRANTED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on April 25, 2022 and case remand­ed to the tri­al court to con­duct a hear­ing on Lucio’s claims that ​“but for the State’s use of false tes­ti­mo­ny, no juror would have con­vict­ed her; pre­vi­ous­ly unavail­able sci­en­tif­ic
evi­dence would pre­clude her con­vic­tion; she is actu­al­ly inno­cent; [and] … the State sup­pressed favor­able, mate­r­i­al evi­dence in vio­la­tion of Brady v. Maryland.” (claim numbers omitted)
29SCRichard Moore STAYED for an indef­i­nite peri­od by the South Carolina Supreme Court on April 20, 2022, with as yet unre­leased explana­to­ry order to follow.
May
10TNMichael RimmerLegally pre­ma­ture death war­rant STAYED
13SCBrad SigmonSTAYED by South Carolina Supreme on April 22, 2022.
17GAVirgil Presnell, Jr.STAYED by the Fulton County Superior Court on May 16, 2022 on the grounds that the exe­cu­tion date vio­lat­ed an agree­ment that estab­lished con­di­tions under which exe­cu­tions could resume after the pandemic.
18OH
James HannaREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for May 14, 2025.
June
9TNHarold NicholsREPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion of exe­cu­tion protocol oversight
July
13TXRamiro GonzalesSTAY GRANTED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on July 11, 2022 to per­mit Gonzales to lit­i­gate a claim that his death sen­tence was obtained through the pre­sen­ta­tion of false expert tes­ti­mo­ny con­cern­ing his alleged future dangerousness.
20OHAustin Myers DATE REMOVED
August

18

TNByron BlackREPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion of exe­cu­tion protocol oversight
September

14

OHJames TenchLegally pre­ma­ture death war­rant. STAY GRANTED by the Ohio Supreme Court on August 26, 2020 pend­ing dis­po­si­tion of state post­con­vic­tion reme­dies avail­able to all Ohio pris­on­ers. ​“The stay shall remain in effect until exhaus­tion of all state post­con­vic­tion pro­ceed­ings, includ­ing any appeals.”
15OHKareem Jackson REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on May 13, 2022 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for December 10, 2025.
22ALAlan Eugene MillerEXECUTION HALTED by Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm short­ly before mid­night (Central Time) on September 22, 2022 when the exe­cu­tion team report­ed that it would not be able to set an IV line before the death war­rant expired.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama had issued a pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion on September 19, 2022 enjoin­ing Alabama ​“from exe­cut­ing Alan Eugene Miller by any method oth­er than nitro­gen hypox­ia.” On the after­noon of September 22, 2022, a pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit by a 2 – 1 vote denied the motion to stay injunc­tion filed by the state attor­ney gen­er­al. At about 9:15 p.m. Central time, the Supreme Court VACATED THE INJUNCTION with­out opin­ion by a 5 – 4 vote, leav­ing Alabama approx­i­mate­ly 2½ hours to car­ry out the exe­cu­tion before the warrant expired.
October
6TNGary SuttonREPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion of exe­cu­tion protocol oversight
17TNUrshawn MillerLegally pre­ma­ture death war­rant. REPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 12, 2022 until December 31, 2022.
26OHQuisi BryanREPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on June 24, 2022 and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for January 7, 2026.
November
16TXStephen BarbeeThe United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas grant­ed Barbee a pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion on November 3, 2022 on reli­gious rights grounds. The injunc­tion was vacat­ed on November 14th. On November 15, the dis­trict court grant­ed an amend­ed pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion. On November 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit VACATED the amend­ed preliminary injunction.
17ALKenneth SmithEXECUTION HALTED short­ly before mid­night (Central Time) on November 17, 2022 when the exe­cu­tion team report­ed that it would not be able to set an IV line before the death warrant expired.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit grant­ed Smith a stay of exe­cu­tion on November 17, 2022 as a result of Smith’s chal­lenge to Alabama’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. The United States Supreme Courtvacat­ed the stay.
December

8

TNDonald MiddlebrooksREPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to con­duct inves­ti­ga­tion of exe­cu­tion protocol oversight
8OKRichard GlossipREPRIEVED by Governor Kevin Stitt on November 3, 2022 ​“to allow time for the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to address pend­ing legal pro­ceed­ings,” and exe­cu­tion resched­uled for February 16, 2023.
15OKJohn HansonWARRANT EXPIRED. Oklahoma sched­uled John Hanson’s exe­cu­tion while he was in fed­er­al cus­tody, with­out first obtain­ing agree­ment his cus­tody would be trans­ferred. The Federal Bureau of Prisons sub­se­quent­ly denied Oklahoma’s demand to trans­fer cus­tody pri­or to com­ple­tion of Hanson’s fed­er­al sen­tence. Oklahoma post­poned Hanson’s clemen­cy hear­ing, a pre­req­ui­site to his exe­cu­tion, and a fed­er­al dis­trict court ruled against Oklahoma’s effort to force BOP to turn over Hanson for exe­cu­tion, caus­ing his exe­cu­tion war­rant to expire.
15IDGerald Pizzuto, Jr.WARRANT EXPIRED. The Idaho Department of Corrections announced on November 30, 2022 that it had been unable to obtain the lethal injec­tion drugs nec­es­sary to car­ry out the exe­cu­tion and that it would allow Pizzuto’s death war­rant to expire.