American female executions 1900 - 2008

Historical background.
In total, it is thought that about 567 women have been executed in the US since 1632, of which some 504 were hanged, including 6 juveniles. (see separate article). This constitutes about 2.8% of the 20,000 or so total executions. Martha Place became the first of 26 women (including one juvenile) to die in the electric chair when she was executed on March 20, 1899 at New York's Auburn prison for the murder of her stepdaughter Ida. Ethel Juanita Spinelli was the first to die by lethal gas in California on November 21, 1941.

The first woman executed by Americans, as distinct from the British, was Basheba Spooner in the state Massachusetts in 1778. She was accused of killing a Sergeant in the Royal Army who she said stole her virtue. She pleaded that she was pregnant, but the plea was rejected and she was hanged. An autopsy showed that she was indeed pregnant.
The youngest female to be executed in the U.S. was native American Hannah Ocuish who publicly hanged in Connecticut on December 20, 1786, for the murder of another child. She was just 12 years and 9 months old.

Three women have been executed under Federal authority. Mary Ann Surratt was hanged with her fellow conspirators at Fort McNair on July 7, 1865 for their parts in the assassination of President Lincoln.
In 1953 Ethel Rosenburg and Bonnie Heady were put to death. Ethel Rosenburg and her husband Julius were electrocuted for espionage on June 19, 1953 and Bonnie Heady went to the gas chamber on December 18, 1953, along with her lover Charles Hall, for the kidnap-murder of 6 year old Bobby Greenlease in Kansas City.

Modern times.
145 women have been sentenced to death between 1977 and mid 2003 and 51 were on death row as of December 1, 2004. Women accounted for only 0.5% of the 7,867 executions carried out from 1900 to 1999, although they commit around 10% of homicides.

Eleven women have been executed since the resumption of executions in 1977. The first was Velma Barfield, who was put to death in North Carolina by lethal injection on November 2, 1984.
Karla Faye Tucker suffered the same fate in Texas on February 3, 1998 for a double murder. Judy Buenoano, dubbed Florida's "Black Widow" was electrocuted on March 30, 1998 for husband murder.

Betty Lou Beets was executed by injection for husband murder in Texas on February 24, 2000. Christina Marie Riggs also received a lethal injection for the murder of her two small children on May 3, 2000 in Arkansas. She fought strenuously for the right to die.

During 2001, Oklahoma emptied its female death row by executing all three women on it. Wanda Jean Allen became the first black woman to be executed since 1954 and the first in Oklahoma since 1903, when she was given a lethal injection on January 11, 2001 for the murder of her lesbian lover. Marilyn Kay Plantz followed her on May 1, 2001 for organizing the murder of her husband. One of her male accomplices was executed for his part in the killing in 2000. Lois Nadean Smith was executed for the July 4, 1982 murder of 21 year old Cindy Baillee whom she suspected of plotting to murder her son, Greg. She was given a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on December 4, 2001.

On the 10th of May 2002, Lynda Lyon Block became almost certainly the last woman to suffer death in the electric chair when she was executed in Alabama for the murder of a police officer on October 4, 1993 in Opelika. Serial killer, Aileen Wournos, was put to death by lethal injection in Florida on October 9, 2002 for the robbery/murder of Richard Mallory. She confessed to killing 6 other men and her execution was consensual.

There were no female executions in 2003 and 2004 and four women were taken off death row in Illinois when Governor Ryan decided to commute all death sentences in that state.

Frances Elaine Newton, aged 40, was executed by lethal injection in Texas on September 14, 2005, having been convicted of killing her husband and two children to gain $100,000 in insurance benefits in 1987.

Pre Furman executions.
Many states have been unwilling to execute female offenders while perfectly willing to execute males. Texas carried out 441 executions between 1930 and 1977 but not one was of a woman.
New York, however, carried out 6 of the 7 female death sentences passed this century. It is notable that the rate of female executions is increasing (in the southern states). Female executions account for 1.22% of the total post 1977 executions up to the end of 2002. From 1900-1962, there was an average of 0.634 per year, nationwide. Over the last 5 years the female execution rate has increased to almost 2 per year. I think there are three factors to account for this, the rise in female equality, the commission of more violent crimes by women and the availability of lethal injection as the principal execution method. Juries find it easier to sentence people to death by this means, especially so women, and state governors are more willing to allow these executions.
There were at least 40 confirmed female executions between 1900 and 1962. Of these 8 were hanged, 25 electrocuted and 7 gassed. Elizabeth Ann Duncan became the last woman to be executed in America prior to reintroduction of capital punishment in 1977 and also the last to be gassed. She died in California's gas chamber at San Quentin on August 8, 1962.
The last woman hanged in the United States was Mary Holmes, a 35 year old black woman, in Mississippi in 1937 for robbery and murder. No woman has ever been executed by shooting in America.

Listing of female executions in date order.

Female executions 1900 - 2005.
Name	Age	State	Date m/dd/yy	Method	Race	Crime
Dora Wright	38	Oklahoma	07/17/03	Hanging	Black	Murder of a seven year old girl
Mary Rogers	29	Vermont	12/08/05	Hanging	White	Murder of husband
Mary Farmer	21	New York	03/29/09	Electric Chair	White	Axe murder of neighbor
Virginia Christian	17	Virginia	08/16/12	Electric Chair	Black	Murder of 16 year old Percy Ellis
Pattie Perdue	-	Mississippi	01/13/22	Hanging	Black	Murder of white man
Ann Knight	-	Mississippi	10/13/22	Hanging	Black	Murder of husband
Ruth Snyder	34	New York	01/12/28	Electric Chair	White	Murder of husband
Ada LeBoeuf	38	Louisiana	02/01/29	Hanging	White	Contract murder of husband by shooting
Selena Gilmore	-	Alabama	01/24/30	Electric Chair	Black	Shotgun murder of waiter
Eva Dugan	52	Arizona	02/21/30	Hanging	White	Murder of employer
Irene Schroeder	22	Pennsylvania	02/23/31	Electric Chair	White	Shooting of policeman
Anna Antonio	27	New York	09/08/34	Electric Chair	White	Contract killing of husband
Julia Moore	-	Louisiana	02/08/35	Hanging	Black	Murder of Elliot Wilson
May Carey	55	Delaware	06/07/35	Hanging	White	Murder of her brother
Eva Coo	41	New York	06/27/35	Electric Chair	White	Murder of lodger
Mary Francis Creighton	38	New York	07/16/35	Electric Chair	White	Poisoning of landlady
Mary Holmes	35	Mississippi	04/29/37	Hanging	Black	Beat employer to death
Marie Porter	38	Illinois	01/28/38	Electric Chair	White	Murder of her brother
Anna Marie Hahn	31	Ohio	12/07/38	Electric Chair	White	Poisoning for gain
Ethel Juanita Spinelli	58	California	11/21/41	Lethal gas (first)	White	Murder of a member of her gang
Toni Jo Henry	26	Louisiana	11/28/42	Electric Chair	White	Shot a man in a vain attempt to free her husband from prison
Rosanna Phillips	25	N. Carolina	01/01/43	Lethal gas	Black	Axe murder of employer
Sue Logue	43	S. Carolina	01/15/43	Electric Chair	White	Murder of sheriff
Mildred Johnson	23	Mississippi	05/19/44	Electric Chair	Black	Beat her landlady to death.
Helen Fowler	37	New York	11/16/44	Electric Chair	Black	Robbery/murder of customer
Bessie Mae Smith (Williams)	19	N. Carolina	29/12/44	Lethal gas	Black	Stabbed a taxi driver.
Lena Baker	44	Georgia	03/05/45	Electric Chair	Black	Battering her employer. Pardoned 08/30/05
Corinne Sykes	20	Pennsylvania	10/14/46	Electric Chair	Black	Stabbing her employer
Rosa Marie Stinette	49	S. Carolina	01/17/47	Electric Chair	Black	Contract killing of husband
Louise Peete	62	California	04/11/47	Lethal gas	White	Shooting of lady supervising her parole.
Martha Jule Beck	30	New York	03/08/51	Electric Chair	White	Drowning a child
Ethel Rosenberg	35	Federal	06/19/53	Electric Chair	White	Espionage
Earle Dennison	55	Alabama	09/04/53	Electric Chair	White	Poisoning of niece
Bonnie Brown Heady	41	Federal	12/18/53	Lethal gas	White	Kidnap & murder of a young boy
Blanch "Dovie" Dean	55	Ohio	01/15/54	Electric Chair	White	Poisoned her husband
Betty Butler	26	Ohio	06/12/54	Electric Chair	Black	Bludgeoning/ drowning of lesbian
Barbara Graham	32	California	06/03/55	Lethal gas	White	Robbery murder
Rhonda Belle Martin	50	Alabama	10/11/57	Electric Chair	White	Poisoning husband
Elizabeth Duncan	58	California	08/08/62	Lethal gas	White	Murder of daughter in law
Velma Barfield	52	N. Carolina	11/02/84	Lethal Injection	White	Poisoning of husband(s)
Karla Faye Tucker	37	Texas	02/03/98	Lethal Injection	White	Pick axe murders
Judias Buenoano	54	Florida	03/30/98	Electric Chair	White	Husband murders
Betty Lou Beets	62	Texas	02/24/00	Lethal Injection	White	Husband murders
Christina Riggs	28	Arkansas	05/03/00	Lethal Injection	White	Murder of her 2 children
Wanda Jean Allen	41	Oklahoma	01/11/01	Lethal Injection	Black	Murder of her lesbian lover
Marilyn Kay Plantz	40	Oklahoma	05/01/01	Lethal Injection	White	Contract killing of her husband
Lois Nadean Smith	61	Oklahoma	12/04/01	Lethal Injection	White	Murder of son's former girlfriend
Lynda Lyon Block	54	Alabama	05/10/02	Electric Chair	White	Murder of policeman
Aileen Wournoss	46	Florida	10/09/02	Lethal Injection	White	Serial killer
Frances Newton	40	Texas	09/14/05	Lethal Injection	Black	Murder of her husband & 2 children

A total of 145 death sentences have been imposed upon female offenders from January 1, 1973 through to mid 2003, or just 2% of all death sentences passed.

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For a full listing of pre-Furman American female executions go to http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/FEMALES.htm