West Virginia

History of the Death Penalty

Prior to 1899, exe­cu­tions in West Virginia were pub­lic and were car­ried out at the coun­ty lev­el with min­i­mal state involve­ment. Starting in 1899, all exe­cu­tions were car­ried out pri­vate­ly in the West Virginia Penitentiary. All exe­cu­tions car­ried out before 1950 were hang­ings. This changed with the intro­duc­tion of the elec­tic chair, which became the new method of exe­cu­tion in 1951. Ninety-four exe­cu­tions occured between 1899, when exe­cu­tions were made a state respon­si­bil­i­ty, and 1959, the year of the last exe­cu­tion in West Virginia. All of those exe­cut­ed were men. West Virginia abol­ished the death penal­ty in 1965.

Notable Cases

Elmer Brunner was the last man exe­cut­ed in West Virginia. Convicted for the mur­der of an elder­ly woman, Brunner was elec­tro­cut­ed on April 3, 1959. His exe­cu­tion was delayed for about two years due to his appeals to the West Virginia Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Milestones in Abolition/​Reinstatement

West Virginia attempt­ed to abol­ish the death penal­ty mul­ti­ple times before a bill out­law­ing the death penal­ty passed in 1965. It was the last state to abol­ish the death penal­ty before Furman v. Georgia.

Motions to rein­state the death penal­ty have appeared in the West Virginia leg­is­la­ture, but attempts have nev­er been suc­cess­ful. A bill was pro­posed in February of 2011 that sparked debate over rein­state­ment, but the bill did not pass.

Resources

• Department of Corrections
• Prosecutors
• Public Defender Services
• ACLU of West Virginia
• Victims’ ser­vices