List of white defendants executed for killing a black victim
The following is a list of white defendants executed for killing a black victim. Executions of white defendants for killing black victims are rare. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States in 1976, just 21 white people have been executed for killing a black person (less than 1.36 percent of all executions), whereas the number of black people executed for killing a white person is 299 (making up nearly 19.4 percent of all executions). Additionally, a further 12 white people have been executed for killing a black person and another person, or people, of a different race.
List of white defendants executed for killing a black victim in the United States since 1976
Indicates cases where the executed defendant killed multiple people of different races
No. | Date of execution | Executed person | Age | State | Method | Victim(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | September 6, 1991 | Donald Henry Gaskins | 58 | South Carolina | Electrocution | Rudolph Tyner (1 Black Male) | |
2 | January 24, 1995 | Kermit Smith Jr. | 37 | North Carolina | Lethal injection | Whelette Collins (1 Black Female) | |
3 | March 20, 1995 | Thomas Joseph Grasso | 32 | Oklahoma | Lethal injection | Hilda Johnson (1 Black Female) | |
4 | July 1, 1995 | Roger Dale Stafford | 43 | Oklahoma | Lethal injection | Isaac Freeman, Louis Zacarias, Terri Horst, Linda Lorenz, David Lindsey, Melvin Lorenz, Richard Lorenz, David Salsman, and Anthony Tew (1 Black Male, 1 Hispanic Male, 2 White Females, 5 White Males) | |
5 | December 6, 1995 | Robert Earl O'Neal Jr. | 34 | Missouri | Lethal injection | Arthur Dade (1 Black Male) | |
6 | June 6, 1997 | Henry Francis Hays | 42 | Alabama | Electrocution | Michael Donald (1 Black Male) | |
7 | December 11, 1997 | Thomas H. Beavers Jr. | 26 | Virginia | Lethal injection | Marguerite Lowery (1 Black Female) | |
8 | March 6, 1998 | John David Arnold Jr. | 43 | South Carolina | Lethal injection | Betty Gardner (1 Black Female) | |
9 | July 10, 1998 | John Herman Plath | 43 | South Carolina | Lethal injection | Betty Gardner (1 Black Female) | |
10 | September 25, 1998 | Sammy Roberts | 40 | South Carolina | Lethal injection | Louis Cakley, Kenneth Krause, and Bill Spain (1 Black Male, 2 White Males) | |
11 | April 28, 1999 | Eric Christopher Payne | 26 | Virginia | Lethal injection | Ruth Parham and Sally Fazio (1 Black Female, 1 White Female) | |
12 | July 6, 1999 | Gary Michael Heidnik | 55 | Pennsylvania | Lethal injection | Deborah Dudley and Sandra Lindsay (2 Black Females) | |
13 | July 8, 1999 | Norman Lee Newsted | 45 | Oklahoma | Lethal injection | Larry Donnell Buckley (1 Black Male) | |
14 | July 21, 1999 | Tommy David Strickler | 33 | Virginia | Lethal injection | Leann Whitlock (1 Black Female) | |
15 | May 3, 2002 | Richard Charles Johnson | 39 | South Carolina | Lethal injection | Bruce Kenneth Smalls (1 Black Male) | |
16 | September 10, 2003 | Larry Allen Hayes | 54 | Texas | Lethal injection | Rosalyn Ann Robinson and Mary Evelyn Hayes (1 Black Female, 1 White Female) | |
17 | July 14, 2006 | William Ernest Downs Jr. | 39 | South Carolina | Lethal injection | Keenan O'Mailia (1 Black Male) | |
18 | July 20, 2006 | Brandon Wayne Hedrick | 27 | Virginia | Electrocution | Lisa Yvonne Crider (1 Black Female) | |
19 | November 9, 2006 | John Yancey Schmitt | 33 | Virginia | Lethal injection | Earl Shelton Dunning (1 Black Male) | |
20 | September 12, 2007 | Daryl Keith Holton | 45 | Tennessee | Electrocution | Kayla Holton, Brent Holton, Eric Holton, and Stephen Holton (1 Black Female, 3 White Males) | |
21 | June 6, 2008 | David Mark Hill | 48 | South Carolina | Lethal injection | Josie Curry, Michael Gregory, and James Riddle (1 Black Female, 2 White Males) | |
22 | February 17, 2011 | Frank G. Spisak Jr. | 59 | Ohio | Lethal injection | Rev. Horace T. Rickerson, Brian Warford, and Timothy Sheehan (2 Black Males, 1 White Male) | |
23 | June 16, 2011 | Lee Andrew Taylor | 32 | Texas | Lethal injection | Donta Green (1 Black Male) | |
24 | September 21, 2011 | Lawrence Russell Brewer | 44 | Texas | Lethal injection | James Byrd Jr. (1 Black Male) | |
25 | February 8, 2012 | Edwin Hart Turner | 38 | Mississippi | Lethal injection | Eddie Brooks and Everett Curry (2 Black Males) | |
26 | September 25, 2012 | Cleve Foster | 48 | Texas | Lethal injection | Nyanuer Gatluak "Mary" Pal (1 Black Female) | |
27 | January 16, 2013 | Robert Charles Gleason Jr. | 42 | Virginia | Electrocution | Aaron Alexander Cooper and Harvey Gray Watson Jr. (1 Black Male, 1 White Male) | |
28 | March 6, 2013 | Frederick Treesh | 48 | Ohio | Lethal injection | Henry Dupree (1 Black Male) | |
29 | September 25, 2013 | Harry Mitts Jr. | 61 | Ohio | Lethal injection | John A. Bryant and Dennis Glivar (1 Black Male, 1 White Male) | |
30 | January 11, 2017 | Christopher Chubasco Wilkins | 48 | Texas | Lethal injection | Willie Ladell Freeman and Mike Silva (1 Black Male, 1 Hispanic Male) | |
31 | July 6, 2017 | William Charles Morva | 35 | Virginia | Lethal injection | Derrick McFarland and Eric Sutphin (1 Black Male, 1 White Male) | |
32 | August 24, 2017 | Mark James Asay | 53 | Florida | Lethal injection | Robert Lee Booker and Robert McDowell (1 Black Male, 1 Mixed-race Male) | |
33 | April 24, 2019 | John William King | 44 | Texas | Lethal injection | James Byrd Jr. (1 Black Male) |