Stays of Execution 2020
| Date of Scheduled Execution | State | Prisoner | Reason for Stay |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | |||
| 13 | Federal | Alfred Bourgeois |
Preliminary injunction granted on November 21, 2019 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia based on a determination that the federal execution protocol announced in July 2019 violates the federal death penalty statute. Motion to vacate injunction denied on December 2 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Application to vacate injunction denied on December 6 by the U.S. Supreme Court. |
| 15 | OH | Denny Obermiller | Date removed. |
| 15 | OH | George Brinkman | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the Ohio Supreme Court on October 9, 2019 to permit Brinkman to pursue appellate review of his conviction and death sentence that is guaranteed as a matter of Ohio law. |
| 15 | Federal | Dustin Lee Honken |
Preliminary injunction granted on November 21, 2019 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia based on a determination that the federal execution protocol announced in July 2019 violates the federal death penalty statute. Motion to vacate injunction denied on December 2 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Application to vacate injunction denied on December 6 by the U.S. Supreme Court. |
| 16 | OH | Kareem Jackson | Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on October 30, 2019 and execution rescheduled for September 16, 2020. |
| 16 | GA | Jimmy Meders | Commuted to life without parole by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on January 16, 2020. |
| February | |||
| 12 | OH | Lawrence Landrum | Reprieve granted by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017 and execution rescheduled for December 9, 2021.^ |
| 20 | OH | Melvin Bonnell | Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on December 20, 2019 and execution rescheduled for March 18, 2021. |
| March | |||
| 11 | OH | Anthony Belton | Date removed. |
| 11 | TX | Carlos Trevino | Execution rescheduled for June 3, 2020. |
| 12 | OH | Gregory Lott | Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on January 31, 2020 and execution rescheduled for May 27, 2021. |
| 13 | PA | Jordan Clemons | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on February 11, 2020 to permit Clemons to pursue habeas corpus review of his conviction and death sentence that is guaranteed as a matter of federal law. |
| 18 | TX | John Hummel | 60-day stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on March 16, 2020 “in light of the current health crisis and the enormous resources needed to address that emergency.” |
| 25 | TX | Tracy Beatty | 60-day stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on March 19, 2020 “in light of the current health crisis and the enormous resources needed to address that emergency.” |
| April | |||
| 16 | TN | Abu-Ali Abdur’ Rahman | Resentenced to life on August 30, 2019. After Tennessee Attorney General sought to intervene in the case and vacate the resentencing, the Tennessee Supreme Court on December 11, 2019 granted a stay of execution. |
| 16 | OH | Stanley Adams | Reprieve granted by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017 and execution rescheduled for February 16, 2022.^ |
| 16 | OH | John Stumpf | Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on January 31, 2020 and execution rescheduled for September 15, 2021. |
| 23 | TX | Fabian Hernandez | 60-day stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on April 1, 2020 based on defense motion invoking coronavirus health crisis. |
| 29 | TX | Billy Wardlow | Execution rescheduled for July 8, 2020 by order of the trial court on April 6, 2020, granting a motion by the Morris County District Attorney’s office to reschedule the execution and denying a motion by the defense to withdraw the death warrant. |
| May | |||
| 6 | TX | Edward Busby | 60-day stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on April 27, 2020 based on a defense motion invoking coronavirus health crisis. |
| 13 | OH |
Caron Montgomery |
Date removed. |
| 13 | TX | Randall Mays | Stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on May 7, 2020, which remanded his case to the trial court to review his claim of intellectual disability. |
| 14 | OH | Warren “Keith” Henness | Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on January 31, 2020 and execution rescheduled for January 12, 2022. |
| June | |||
| 2 | PA | Tam Minh Le | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on April 22, 2020 to permit Le to pursue state post-conviction review of his conviction and death sentence that is guaranteed as a matter of Pennsylvania law. |
| 3 | TX | Carlos Trevino | Execution rescheduled by Bexar County Judicial District Court on April 15, 2020. New execution date is September 30, 2020. |
| 4 | TN | Oscar Franklin Smith | Stay granted by the Tennessee Supreme Court on April 17, 2020 and execution rescheduled for February 4, 2021. |
| 16 | TX | Ruben Gutierrez | Stay granted by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 16, 2020 to determine whether to review Gutierrez’s petition to review his challenge to Texas’s denial of his request to have a Christian chaplain accompany him in the execution chamber. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas initially granted a stay, which was vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on June 12. |
| 17 | OH | Romell Broom | Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on April 14, 2020 and execution rescheduled for March 16, 2022. |
| 22 | PA | Eric Frein | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the Pike Court of Common Pleas on June 12, 2020 to permit Frein to pursue state post-conviction review of his conviction and death sentence that is guaranteed as a matter of Pennsylvania law. |
| July | |||
| 15 | OH |
Nathaniel Jackson | Date removed. |
| 16 | OH | John Hanna | Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on April 14, 2020 and execution rescheduled for May 18, 2022. |
| 28 | PA | Leeton Thomas | Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 30, 2020 to permit Thomas to pursue habeas corpus review of his conviction and death sentence that is guaranteed as a matter of federal law. |
| August | |||
| 12 | OH | Douglas Coley |
Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on April 14, 2020 and execution rescheduled for July 20, 2022. |
| September | |||
| 16 | OH | Kareem Jackson | Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on June 5, 2020 and execution rescheduled for September 15, 2022. |
| 17 | OH | John Drummond | Reprieve granted by Gov. John Kasich on September 1, 2017 and execution rescheduled for April 21, 2022.^ |
| 30 | TX | Carlos Trevino | Execution date withdrawn by the Bexar County District Court on September 15, 2020 “due to the current COVID-19 conditions in Texas.” A hearing to reset the execution date has been scheduled for March 5, 2021. |
| October | |||
| 8 | TN | Byron Black | Stay granted by the Tennessee Supreme Court on June 12, 2020 because of the coronavirus impact on litigation and execution rescheduled for April 8, 2021. |
| 14 | OH | Stanley Fitzpatrick |
Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on June 5, 2020 and execution rescheduled for February 15, 2023. |
| November | |||
| 18 | OH | Anthony Sowell |
Legally premature warrant. Stay granted by the Ohio Supreme Court on January 5, 2017 “pending disposition of available state remedies” to permit Sowell to pursue appellate and post-conviction review of his conviction and death sentence that is guaranteed as a matter of Ohio law. |
| December | |||
| 3 | TN | Pervis Payne | Reprieve granted by Gov. Bill Lee on November 6, 2020 until April 9, 2021. |
| 4 | SC | Richard Moore | Stay granted by the South Carolina Supreme Court on November 30, 2020 because “the South Carolina Department of Corrections does not have, and will not be able to obtain, the drugs required for execution by lethal injection by December 4, 2020.” |
| 8 | Federal | Lisa Montgomery | Temporary stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on November 18, 2020 based on the denial of meaningful access to clemency and the abandonment by counsel resulting from counsel’s contracting COVID-19. Execution rescheduled for January 12, 2021. |
| 9 | OH | David Sneed |
Reprieve granted by Gov. Mike DeWine on June 5, 2020 and execution rescheduled for April 19, 2023. |
^ On September 1, 2017, Ohio’s Governor Kasich issued a statement and an updated execution schedule, which changed the execution dates for 19 of 26 condemned prisoners who had scheduled dates between September 2017 and September 2020. The execution schedule for these 26 prisoners now extends through April 2022.
“Volunteer” refers to prisoners who have voluntarily waived their normal appeals (not necessarily that they have volunteered for execution).
