Executions and Stays 2022
55 execution dates were scheduled by 12 states for 2022.
There were 18 executions by 6 states.
13 executions were stayed.
No executions were halted by commutation.
18 executions were halted by reprieve.
1 warrant was withdrawn/removed/vacated/rescheduled.
2 failed executions were halted when execution personnel were unable to set IV lines.
2 death warrants expired without the execution being attempted.
1 prisoner died on death row while his warrant was pending.
| Date of Scheduled Execution | State | Prisoner | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | |||
| 6 | OK | Wade Greenly Lay | STAY 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 | OH | Warren “Keith” Henness |
REPRIEVED† by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and execution rescheduled for December 17, 2024. |
27 | OK | Donald Anthony Grant | EXECUTED |
| 27 | AL | Matthew Reeves | Preliminary 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. The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 on January 27, 2022 to vacate the injunction, Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Barrett dissenting. EXECUTED |
| JANUARY 2022 | 4 executions scheduled by 3 states | 2 people executed; 1 execution stayed ; 1 execution halted by reprieve | |
| February | |||
16 | OH | Stanley Adams | REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and execution rescheduled for December 17, 2024. |
17 | OK | Gilbert Ray Postelle | EXECUTED |
| FEBRUARY 2022 | 2 executions scheduled by 2 states | 1 person executed; 1 execution halted by reprieve | |
| March | |||
8 | TX | Michael Gonzales | STAY 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 | OK | James Allen Coddington | STAY 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. |
| 15 | PA | Kenneth Hairston | Legally premature death warrant. STAY GRANTED by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on February 14, 2022 “pending completion of these habeas corpus proceedings, or until further Order of Court.” |
16 | OH | Romell Broom | DIED ON DEATH ROW on December 28, 2020 of COVID-19. |
| MARCH 2022 | 4 executions scheduled by 4 states | 3 executions stayed; 1 person died on death row | |
| April | |||
| 21 | OH | John Drummond | REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and execution rescheduled for April 16, 2025. |
| 21 | TN | Oscar Franklin Smith | REPRIEVE 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.” |
| 21 | TX | Carl Wayne Buntion | EXECUTED |
| 27 | TX | Melissa Lucio | STAY 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) |
| 28 | SC | Richard Moore | STAYED for an indefinite period by the South Carolina Supreme Court on April 20, 2022, with as yet unreleased explanatory order to follow. |
| APRIL 2022 | 5 executions scheduled by 4 states | 1 person executed; 2 executions stayed; 2 executions halted by reprieve | |
| May | |||
| 3 | MO | Carman Deck | EXECUTED |
| 10 | TN | Michael Rimmer | Premature death warrant. STAYED to permit him to seek post-conviction review of his conviction and death sentence available as a matter of right to all Tennessee defendants. |
| 11 | AZ | Clarence Dixon | EXECUTED |
| 13 | SC | Brad Sigmon | STAYED by the South Carolina Supreme Court on April 22, 2022. |
| 17 | GA | Virgil 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. |
| 18 | OH | James Hanna | REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on September 10, 2021 and execution rescheduled for May 14, 2025. |
| 27 | PA | Robert Flor | Legally premature death warrant. STAY GRANTED by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on April 11, 2022 to permit Flor to pursue habeas corpus remedies available as a matter of right to all state court prisoners. |
| MAY 2022 | 7 executions scheduled by 7 states | 2 people executed; 4 executions stayed; 1 execution halted by reprieve | |
| June | |||
| 8 | AZ | Frank Atwood | EXECUTED |
9 | TN | Harold Nichols | REPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to conduct investigation of execution protocol oversight. |
22 | OH | Percy Hutton | REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on February 18, 2022 and execution rescheduled for June 18, 2025 |
| JUNE 2022 | 3 executions scheduled by 3 states | 1 person executed; 2 executions halted by reprieve | |
| July | |||
| 17 | TX | Ramiro Gonzales | STAY 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 | OH | Austin Myers | DATE REMOVED |
| 20 | OH | Douglas Coley | REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on February 18, 2022 and execution rescheduled for September 24, 2025 |
| 22 | PA | Melvin Knight | Legally premature death warrant. STAY GRANTED by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on July 14, 2022 “pending completion of these habeas corpus proceedings or until further order of this court.” |
| 28 | AL | Joe Nathan James | EXECUTED |
| JULY 2022 | 5 executions scheduled by 4 states | 1 execution; 2 executions stayed; 1 execution halted by reprieve; 1 execution date removed | |
| August | |||
| 17 | TX | Kosoul Chanthakoummane | EXECUTED |
| 18 | TN | Byron Black | REPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to conduct investigation of execution protocol oversight. |
| 24 | OH | Cedric Carter | REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on February 18, 2022 and execution rescheduled for August 27, 2025 |
| 25 | OK | James Coddington | EXECUTED |
| AUGUST 2022 | 4 executions scheduled by 4 states | 2 executions; 2 executions halted by reprieve | |
| September | |||
| 14 | OH | James Tench | Legally 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 | OH | Kareem Jackson | REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on May 13, 2022 and execution rescheduled for December 10, 2025. |
| 22 | OK | Richard Glossip | REPRIEVED by Governor Kevin Stitt on August 16, 2022. Stayed for 60 days with new execution date for 30 days later, December 8, 2022, to provide the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals time to determine whether Glossip will be granted an evidentiary hearing to address new evidence of his innocence. |
| 22 | AL | Alan Eugene Miller | EXECUTION 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, leavingg Alabama approximately 2½ hours to carry out the execution before the warrant expired. |
| SEPTEMBER 2022 | 4 executions scheduled by 3 states | 1 execution stayed; 1 failed execution; 2 executions halted by reprieve | |
| October | |||
| 5 | TX | John Henry Ramirez | Motion by the Nueces County District Attorney’s office to withdraw the warrant denied by the trial court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. EXECUTED |
| 6 | TN | Gary Sutton | REPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to conduct investigation of execution protocol oversight. |
| 17 | TN | Urshawn Miller | Legally premature death warrant. REPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 12, 2022 until December 31, 2022. |
| 20 | OK | Benjamin Cole | EXECUTED |
| 26 | OH | Quisi Bryan | REPRIEVED by Governor Mike DeWine on June 24, 2022 and execution rescheduled for January 7, 2026. |
| OCTOBER 2022 | 5 executions scheduled by 4 states | 2 executions; 3 executions halted by reprieve | |
| November | |||
| 9 | TX | Tracy Beatty | EXECUTED |
| 16 | TX | Stephen Barbee | EXECUTED |
| 16 | AZ | Murray Hooper | EXECUTED |
| 17 | OK | Richard Fairchild | EXECUTED |
| 17 | AL | Kenneth Smith | EXECUTION 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 Court vacated the stay. |
| 29 | MO | Kevin Johnson | EXECUTED |
| NOVEMBER 2022 | 6 executions scheduled by 4 states | 5 executions; 1 failed execution | |
| December | |||
| 8 | TN | Donald Middlebrooks | REPRIEVED by Governor Bill Lee on May 2, 2022 to conduct investigation of execution protocol oversight. |
| 8 | OK | Richard Glossip | REPRIEVED 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. |
| 14 | MS | Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. | EXECUTED |
| 15 | OK | John Hanson | 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 has postponed Hanson’s clemency hearing, a prerequisite to his execution, which caused his execution warrant to expire. |
| 15 | ID | Gerald Pizzuto | 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 the death warrant to expire. |
| 29 | PA | John Lesko | REPRIEVED by Governor Tom Wolf on December 9, 2022. |
| DECEMBER 2022 | 6 executions scheduled by 5 states | 1 execution; 3 executions halted by reprieve; 2 warrants expired without an execution being attempted | |
† On February 19, 2019, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine stated that the state would not carry out any executions until it devised a new execution protocol that was approved by the courts. However, he did not formally halt the executions scheduled in the state. In December 2020, he indicated that he did not consider lethal injection a viable execution method.
| 2022 Death Warrant Outcomes Nationally, by Month | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Scheduled Executions | Executions | Stayed by Courts* | Commutations | Reprieves | Died on Death Row | Date Removed or
Warrant Withdrawn/ Vacated/Expired | Failed Execution | |
| January | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| February | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| March | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| April | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| May | 7 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| June | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| July | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| August | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| September | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| October | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| November | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| December | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 55 | 18 | 13 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| 2022 Death Warrant Outcomes by Jurisdiction | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Scheduled Executions | Executions | Stayed by Courts* | Commutations | Reprieves | Died on Death Row | Date Removed or Warrant Withdrawn/ Vacated/Expired | Failed Execution | |
| Ohio | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Oklahoma | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Texas | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tennessee | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Alabama | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Arizona | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Missouri | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| South Carolina | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mississippi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Idaho | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 55 | 18 | 13 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |