List of people executed in Delaware

The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Delaware since capital punishment was resumed in the United States in 1976.

All of the 16 people were convicted of murder and have been executed at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, near Smyrna, Delaware.^[1] Capital punishment was abolished in Delaware on August 2, 2016.^[2]

List of people executed in Delaware since 1976

No.	Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	Method	Victim(s)	Governor
1	Steven Brian Pennell	White	34	M	March 14, 1992	Lethal injection	Shirley Ellis and Catherine DiMauro	Michael Castle
2	James Allen Red Dog	Native American	39	M	March 3, 1993		Hugh Pennington[a]	Thomas Carper
3	Kenneth W. DeShields	Black	33	M	August 31, 1993		Elizabeth Reed
4	Andre S. Deputy	Black	45	M	June 23, 1994		Byard Smith and Alberta Smith
5	Nelson W. Shelton	White	27	M	March 17, 1995		Wilson Mannon Jr.
6	Billy Bailey	White	49	M	January 25, 1996	Hanging	Gilbert Lamberton and Clara Lamberton
7	William Henry Flamer	Black	41	M	January 30, 1996	Lethal injection	Byard Smith and Alberta Smith
8	James B. Clark Jr.	White	39	M	April 19, 1996		Elizabeth Clark and James Clark Sr.
9	David J. Lawrie	White	37	M	April 23, 1999		4 murder victims[b]
10	Willie G. Sullivan	Black	28	M	September 24, 1999		Maurice Dodd
11	Dwayne L. Weeks	Black	37	M	November 17, 2000		Gwendolyn Weeks and Craig Williams
12	David F. Dawson	White	46	M	April 26, 2001		Madeline Marie Kisner	Ruth Ann Minner
13	Abdullah Tanzil Hameen[c]	Black	37	M	May 25, 2001		Troy Hodges
14	Brian David Steckel	White	36	M	November 4, 2005		Sandra Lee Long
15	Robert W. Jackson III	White	38	M	July 29, 2011		Elizabeth Girardi	Jack A. Markell
16	Shannon M. Johnson	Black	28	M	April 20, 2012		Cameron Hamlin

Executions before 1972

The following individuals were executed in Delaware in county prisons ("workhouses") by hanging before 1972, when the Furman v. Georgia ruling briefly abolished capital punishment. Delaware independently abolished capital punishment in 1958 but reinstated it in 1974.^[3][4]

Name	Race	Age	Sex	Date of execution	County	Crime	Victim(s)	Governor
John Smith			M	December 21, 1815	New Castle	Murder	[5]	Daniel Rodney
William Piper	White		M	April 18, 1820	Sussex	Murder	Female, white (mother)[6]	John Collins
Jacob Elliott	Black		M	December 31, 1822	New Castle	Murder	John Kean, white[7]	Caleb Rodney
Elisha Sharp	White		M	November 8, 1825	Sussex	Murder	Two people, white (wife and child)[8]	Samuel Paynter
Robert Morris			M	November 8, 1831	Sussex	Murder	[9]	David Hazzard
Samuel Ward	Black	22	M	September 8, 1852	New Castle	Murder	George A. Davidson, white[10]	William H. H. Ross
John Bowen	White		M	February 10, 1860	New Castle	Murder	John W. Dewlin, white[11]	William Burton
John Cannon	Black	18	M	December 14, 1860	Sussex	Murder	Ms. Griffin, 14, white[12]	Gove Saulsbury
Sarah Bradley	Black	18	F			Murder	Ellen Wright, 14 months, white[13]
Levi Jenkins	Black	35	M			Rape	Female, black[14]
John Cannon	Black		M	December 28, 1860	Kent	Rape	Mary Ann Martin, white[15]
Andrew Armstrong	White	53	M	February 8, 1867	New Castle	Murder	Mrs. Douglass, white (wife)[16][d]
Joshua Jones	Black		M	February 4, 1870	New Castle	Rape	Mary Meredith, white[17]
Louis Carpenter	Black		M
Benjamin Johnson	Black		M	December 16, 1870	Sussex	Rape	Charlotte Fletcher, white[18]
Joseph Burton	Black		M	June 20, 1873	Sussex	Rape	Ms. Laut, 16, white[19]	James Ponder
Clement Hurley			M	1875	Sussex	Murder	[20]	John P. Cochran
John Rhodes	Black	24	M	September 21, 1877	New Castle	Murder	James Temple, black[21]
Samuel Chambers	Black	35	M	March 22, 1878	New Castle	Rape	Kate Smith, white[22]
George Collins	Black	19	M
James Redden	Black	21	M	August 25, 1882	New Castle	Rape	Sallie Purse, white[23]	John W. Hall
Charles Robinson	Black	33	M	April 16, 1886	New Castle	Rape	Ella F. Gardner, white[24]	Charles C. Stockley
Jesse Proctor	Black	34	M	February 13, 1891	Kent	Robbery-Murder	Stephen Lindsay, white[25]	Robert J. Reynolds
Fredrick Young	Black	17	M
Shakespeare Reeves	Black	33	M	March 6, 1891	New Castle	Rape	Grace Clark, 11, white[26]
James Thoroughgood	Black		M	August 7, 1891	Kent	Rape	Louisa Huffington, 8, black[27]
Edward Wright	Black	29	M	July 1, 1897	New Castle	Murder	Ida Crummel, 23, black (lover)[28]	Ebe W. Tunnell
James Gordy	White		M	June 11, 1897	Sussex	Murder	Mary Lewis Gordy, white (wife)[29]
John Joiner	Black	25	M	September 2, 1904	New Castle	Murder	John R. Taylor, black[30]	John Hunn
Lewis Jones		30	M	January 11, 1907	New Castle	Murder	[31]	Preston Lea
William Archer	Black	21	M	January 25, 1907	New Castle	Murder	Ida E. Spires, black (lover)[32]
Reese Roberts	Black	30	M	July 14, 1911	New Castle	Robbery-Murder	Robert and Ann Casey, 70 and 68, white[33]	Simeon S. Pennewill
Peter Krakus	White	25	M	May 14, 1915	New Castle	Murder	Francis X. Tierney, white (policeman)[34]	Charles R. Miller
William Prettyman	Black	29	M	September 28, 1917	New Castle	Murder	Harry Parker, black[35]	John G. Townsend Jr.
Adam Hargus	Black	34	M
Webster Purnell	Black	36	M
Samuel Gangus	White	24	M	January 11, 1918	New Castle	Murder	Catherine Bodjeska, white[36]
Ernest Thomas	Black	21	M	November 26, 1920	New Castle	Rape	Emma Talley, 58, white[37]
Lemuel Price	Black	24	M	December 3, 1920	New Castle	Murder	Thomas Zebley, white (policeman)[38]
Harry Butler	Black	21	M	February 26, 1926	Sussex	Rape	Eleanor Steinmetz, 10, white[39][e]	Robert P. Robinson
Carl Skinner	Black	27	M	May 27, 1927	Sussex	Rape	Julia A. Bennett, 85, white[40]
Louis Galvano	White	21	M	March 28, 1930	New Castle	Murder	Arthur C. Cline, white[41]	C. Douglass Buck
Theodore Ross	Black	24	M	August 22, 1930	New Castle	Rape	Mary Read, 21, white[42]
John Morgan	White	44	M	April 12, 1935	Kent	Murder	Dominique Pierre and Frank Foster, white[43]
May Carey	White	52	F	June 7, 1935	Sussex	Murder	Robert R. Hitchens, white (May's brother)[44]
Howard Carey	White	28	M
George Scott	Black	26	M	November 20, 1936	New Castle	Murder	Elbert Paul, black[45]
Isaiah Opher	Black	36	M	January 3, 1937	New Castle	Rape-Murder	Female, 13, black[46]
Joseph Nelson	Black	36	M	June 4, 1937	Sussex	Murder	Carrie Lethal, black (common-law wife)[47]	Richard McMullen
Curnel Robinson	Black	34	M	January 14, 1941	New Castle	Rape	Female, 15, white[48]
Ralph Ernest	White	33	M	January 9, 1942	New Castle	Rape	Female, 6, white[49]	Walter W. Bacon
Anderson Butler	Black	23	M	December 7, 1945	New Castle	Rape	Female, 13, white[50]
Forrest Sturdivant	Black	34	M	May 10, 1946	Sussex	Murder	Male, black[51]

See also

• Capital punishment in Delaware
• Capital punishment in the United States

Notes

1. Red Dog killed 4 additional people in Montana, California & Illinois
2. The 4 victims were: Michelle Lawrie, Fawn Lawrie, Tabitha Lawrie, and Charles Humbertson.
3. Formerly known as Cornelius Ferguson.
4. Also admitted to "various bloody deeds" he committed while working as a chain bearer for a coastal survey in California.
5. Also attacked a black woman, Bertha Neal.