List of individuals executed in Kansas
Encyclopedia
No one has been executed by the state of Kansas
since 1965, although capital punishment
is legal there. Historically, 58 people have been executed in the area now occupied by the state. Many of these were federal executions of soldiers and POWs, often at the United States Disciplinary Barracks
in Leavenworth. The last executions in Kansas were at the Kansas State Penitentiary when the serial killers George York and James Latham, were executed for murder in 1965. Except for John Coon executed in 1853 by firing squad, all federal and state executions in Kansas have been by hanging. Fourteen German POWs were executed at Leavenworth in 1945. The current method is lethal injection.
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
since 1965, although capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
is legal there. Historically, 58 people have been executed in the area now occupied by the state. Many of these were federal executions of soldiers and POWs, often at the United States Disciplinary Barracks
United States Disciplinary Barracks
The United States Disciplinary Barracks is a military prison located on Fort Leavenworth, a United States Army post in Kansas....
in Leavenworth. The last executions in Kansas were at the Kansas State Penitentiary when the serial killers George York and James Latham, were executed for murder in 1965. Except for John Coon executed in 1853 by firing squad, all federal and state executions in Kansas have been by hanging. Fourteen German POWs were executed at Leavenworth in 1945. The current method is lethal injection.
List of non-military executions in Kansas since 1950
- George Miller, May 6, 1950
- Preston McBride, April 6, 1951
- James Lammers, January 5, 1952
- Nathaniel Germany, May 21, 1954
- Merle Martin, Jr., July 16, 1954
- Lowell Lee AndrewsLowell Lee AndrewsLowell Lee Andrews was a University of Kansas sophomore convicted of the murders of his parents and his sister on November 28, 1958; a crime for which he was later executed.-Background:...
, November 30, 1962 - Perry SmithPerry Smith (murderer)Perry Edward Smith was one of two ex-convicts who murdered four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, United States on November 15, 1959, a crime made famous by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.-Family and early life:Perry Edward Smith was born in Huntington,...
, April 14, 1965 (Murderer of Clutter family, November 15, 1959, along with Richard Hickock- see In Cold BloodIn Cold Blood (book)In Cold Blood is a 1966 book by American author Truman Capote detailing the brutal 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, a successful farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, his wife and two of their four children. Two older daughters no longer lived at the farm and were not there at the time of the murders...
) - Richard HickockRichard HickockRichard "Dick" Eugene Hickock was one of two ex-convicts who murdered the four members of the Herbert Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas on November 15, 1959, a crime made famous by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood...
, April 14, 1965 - George York, June 22, 1965
- James LathamGeorge York and James LathamGeorge Ronald York and James Douglas Latham were an American spree killer team who are the most recent individuals executed by the U.S. state of Kansas.-Killing spree:...
, June 22, 1965