The Last Public Execution in America
by Perry T. Ryan
Really the Last Public Execution in America?
The last public execution in America was that of Rainey Bethea
in Owensboro, Kentucky, on August 14, 1936, because it was the last
death sentence in the nation at which the general public was
permitted to attend without any legally-imposed restrictions.
"Public execution" is a legal phrase, defined by the laws of various states, and carried out pursuant to a court order. Similar to "public record" or "public meeting," it means that anyone who wants to attend the execution may do so.
About 1890, a political movement developed in the United States
to mandate private executions. Several states enacted laws which
required that the executions be conducted within a "wall" or
"enclosure" to "exclude public view." (These are significant legal
phrases.) For example, in 1919, the Missouri legislature adopted a
statute (L.1919, p. 781) which required, "the sentence of death
should be executed within the county jail, if convenient, and
otherwise within an enclosure near the jail." The Missouri law
permitted the local sheriff to distribute passes to individuals
(usually local citizens) whom he believed should witness the hanging,
but the sheriffs--for various reasons--sometimes denied passes to
individuals who wanted to watch. Missouri executions conducted after
1919 were not "public" because they were conducted behind closed
walls, and the general public was not permitted to attend.
Present-day statutes from across the nation utilize the same
words and phrases, requiring modern executions to take place within a
wall or enclosure to exclude public view. Connecticut (CGSA 54-100)
requires death sentences to be conducted in an "enclosure" which
"shall be so constructed as to exclude public view." Kentucky (KRS
431.220) and Missouri (VAMS 546.730) statutes contain substantially
identical language. New Mexico's statute (NMSA 31-14-12) requires
executions be conducted in a "room or place enclosed from public
view." Massachusetts (MGLA. 279 § 60) requires executions to
take place "within an enclosure or building." North Carolina (NCGSA
§ 15-188) requires death sentences to be executed "within the
walls" of the penitentiary, as does Oklahoma (22 Okl.St.Ann. §
1015) and Montana (MCA 46-19-103). Ohio (RC § 2949.22) requires,
"The enclosure shall exclude public view." Similarly, Tennessee (TCA
§ 40-23-116) requires "an enclosure" for "strict seclusion and
privacy." Federal law (18 U.S.C.A. § 3596 and 28 CFR 26.3)
specifically limits the witnesses to be present at an execution..
Today, there are always witnesses to executions--sometimes
numerous witnesses, but it is the law, not the number of witnesses
present, which determines whether the execution is "public."
All of the executions which have taken place since the 1936
hanging of Bethea in Owensboro have been conducted within a wall or
enclosure. For example, Fred Adams was legally hanged in Kennett,
Missouri, on April 2, 1937, within a 10-foot wooden stockade. Roscoe
"Red" Jackson was hanged within a stockade in Galena, Missouri, on
May 26, 1937. Two Kentucky hangings were conducted after Galena in
which numerous persons were present within a wooden stockade, that of
John "Peter" Montjoy in Covington on December 17, 1937, and that of
Harold Van Venison in Covington on June 3, 1938. An estimated 400
witnesses were present for the hanging of Lee Simpson in Ryegate,
Montana, on December 30, 1939. The execution of Timothy McVeigh on
June 11, 2001, was witnessed by some 300 people (some by closed
circuit television), so some might call it a "public execution," even
though federal law does not permit public executions. See 18
U.S.C.A. § 3596 and the federal administrative regulation
implementing it, 28 CFR § 26.4. A “public execution” necessarily means that all the public has access. Determining public access is more complex than simply looking at the dates of the executions and concluding that one was carried out later than 1936.
For these reasons, Owensboro was the site of the last public
execution in America, and some 20,000 men, women, and children
witnessed it without restriction--no enclosures, no walls, and no
sheriffs' passes. Any other conclusion would necessarily ignore the
legal definition of "public execution."