Stays of Execution 2021
| Date of Scheduled Execution | State | Prisoner | Reason for Stay |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | |||
| 12 | Federal | Lisa Montgomery | Execution date vacated by U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on December 24, 2020 because the new execution date was set while a stay of execution was in effect, in violation of the terms of federal execution regulations. On January 1, 2021, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit VACATED the district court’s order, and full court denied reargument.
Stayed by U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on January 11, 2021 pending “highly expedited initial hearing en banc of Montgomery’s appeal to resolve our circuit law on the important question of the meaning of ‘implementation of death in the manner prescribed by the law of the State in which the sentence is imposed,’ under the Federal Death Penalty Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3596(a).” STAY VACATED |
| 13 | OH | Cleveland Jackson | REPRIEVED |
| 15 | Federal | Dustin Higgs | EXECUTION NOTICE INVALIDATED by U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on December 29, 2020. Original sentencing order requires execution per Maryland procedures, while execution set for Indiana. Court says its lacks authority to modify the sentencing order. (The Department of Justice filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on December 31.) Stay vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court near midnight on January 15. EXECUTED January 16, 2021 |
| 20 | OH | Dawud E. Spaulding | Legally Premature Warrant STAYED by the Ohio Supreme Court on March 2, 2017 “pending disposition of available state remedies.” |
| 21 | TX | Blaine Milam | STAYED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on January 15, 2021 and remanded to the trial court for consideration of Milam’s claim that he is ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability. |
| February | |||
| 4 | TN | Oscar Smith | STAY GRANTED by the Tennessee Supreme Court on January 6, 2021 as a result of COVID-19 concerns. |
| 10 | TX | Edward Busby | STAY GRANTED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on February 3, 2021 and remanded to the trial court for consideration of Busby’s claim that he is ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability. |
| 11 | AL | Willie B. Smith III | Stay granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on February 10, 2021 until February 16 to provide the court time to consider a claim Smith raised under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Stay vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court close to midnight Eastern time on February 11, 2021. PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION GRANTED by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on February 10, 2021 based on Smith’s claim that Alabama’s refusal to permit his pastor in the execution chamber violates federal religious discrimination law. Application to vacate the injunction DENIED by the U.S. Supreme Court close to midnight Eastern time on February 11, 2021. |
| 12 | SC | Brad Sigmon | EXECUTION DATE VACATED by the South Carolina Supreme Court on February 4, 2021 on the grounds that “the execution is currently impossible” because the Department of Corrections “will not be able to obtain the required drugs prior to the scheduled date of execution.” |
| 18 | OH | James O’Neal | REPRIEVED |
| March | |||
| 4 | TX | Ramiro Ibarra | STAY GRANTED by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on February 24, 2021 and remanded to the trial court for consideration of Ibarra’s claims that he is ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability and that new DNA science shows that the evidence used to convict him was unreliable. |
| 18 | OH | Melvin Bonnell | REPRIEVED |
| 24 | OH | Steven E. Cepec | DATE REMOVED |
| April | |||
| 8 | TN | Byron Black | STAYED |
| 21 | OH | Elwood Jones | REPRIEVE GRANTED by Gov. Mike DeWine on December 18, 2020, and execution rescheduled for December 6, 2023. |
| May | |||
| 14 | PA | Paul Gamboa-Taylor | REPRIEVE GRANTED by Governor Tom Wolf on May 7, 2021. |
| 14 | SC | Freddie Owens | STAY GRANTED by the South Carolina Supreme Court on May 4, 2021 “[b]ecause the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) lacks the means to conduct an execution by lethal injection at this time.” The stay remains in effect “until SCDC advises the Court it has the ability to perform the execution as required by the law.” |
| 26 | OH | David Martin | STAY GRANTED by the Ohio Supreme Court on April 8, 2021 pending “exhaustion of all state post-conviction proceedings, including any appeals.” |
| 27 | OH | Gregory Lott | REPRIEVE GRANTED by Gov. Mike DeWine on December 18, 2020, and execution rescheduled for February 15, 2024. |
| June | |||
| 2 | ID | Gerald Pizzuto Jr. | STAY GRANTED by the Idaho District Court for the 2nd District on May 18, 2021 “until the conclusion of commutation proceedings related to Mr. Pizzuto’s current commutation petition” scheduled for the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole’s November 2021 hearing session. |
| 18 | SC | Brad Sigmon | STAY GRANTED by the South Carolina Supreme Court on June 16, 2021 because the South Carolina law provides a statutory right for the prisoner to elect between execution by electric chair or execution by firing squad and the S.C. Department of Corrections has no procedures in place to carry out executions by firing squad. |
| 23 | OH | Archie Dixon | REPRIEVE GRANTED by Gov. Mike DeWine on December 18, 2020, and execution rescheduled for April 17, 2024. |
| 25 | SC | Freddie Owens III | STAY GRANTED by the South Carolina Supreme Court on June 16, 2021 because the South Carolina law provides a statutory right for the prisoner to elect between execution by electric chair or execution by firing squad and the S.C. Department of Corrections has no procedures in place to carry out executions by firing squad. |
| July | |||
| 26 | NV | Zane Floyd | Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on June 28, 2021 with written order issued July 7, 2021 (order appealed). STAY GRANTED by the Nevada state courts on July 9 “pending the Nevada Supreme Court’s ruling on Mr. Floyd’s pending petition for writ of mandamus and prohibition.” |
| August | |||
11 | OH | Timothy Hoffner | REPRIEVE GRANTED by Gov. Mike DeWine on April 9, 2021 and execution rescheduled for June 18, 2024 |
| September | |||
| 8 | TX | John Ramirez | STAY GRANTED and petition for a writ of certiorari granted by the U.S. Supreme Court on September 8, 2021 to determine whether Texas’s restrictions on religious activities in the execution chamber violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. |
15 | OH | John Stumpf | REPRIEVE GRANTED by Gov. Mike DeWine on April 9, 2021 and execution rescheduled for August 13, 2024 |
| October | |||
| 12 | TX | Stephen Barbee | STAY GRANTED by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on October 7, 2021 on the same claim religious liberty claims raised by John Ramirez to provide the District Court “time to explore and resolve serious factual issues concerning the balance between [Barbee’s] religious rights and the prison’s valid concerns for security.” |
| 20 | OH | James Frazier | DIED ON DEATH ROW of COVID-19 on November 19, 2020. |
| 27 | TX | Ruben Gutierrez | EXECUTION WARRANT VACATED by the trial court in Cameron County on September 15, 2021 pending the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in John Ramirez’s case on the scope of the right to free exercise of religion in the execution chamber. |
| 28 | OK | John Grant | Stay granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on October 27, 2021 pending the outcome of February 2022 trial on the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s lethal-injection protocol. STAY VACATED by U.S. Supreme Court on October 28. |
| November | |||
| 3 | TX | Fabian Hernandez | EXECUTION WARRANT WITHDRAWN |
| 10 | TX | Kosoul Chanthakoummane | EXECUTION WARRANT WITHDRAWN by the Collin County District Court on October 19, 2021 and new execution warrant issued for August 17, 2022. |
| 17 | TX | Ramiro Gonzales | EXECUTION WARRANT WITHDRAWN and new execution warrant issued for September 13, 2022. |
| 18 | OK | Julius Jones | Stay granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on October 27, 2021 pending the outcome of February 2022 trial on the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s lethal-injection protocol. STAY VACATED by U.S. Supreme Court on October 28. |
| December | |||
9 | OH | Lawrence Landrum | REPRIEVE GRANTED by Gov. Mike DeWine on April 9, 2021 and execution rescheduled for October 15, 2024 |
