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List of people executed in the United States in 1957

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Sixty-nine people, sixty-eight male and one female, were executed in the United States in 1957, forty-eight by electrocution, sixteen by gas chamber, and five by hanging.[1]

The District of Columbia would conduct its final execution this year, before abolishing capital punishment in 1981.[2]

List of people executed in the United States in 1957

[edit]
No. Date of execution Name Age of person Gender Ethnicity State Method Ref.
At execution At offense Age difference
1 January 3, 1957 John Edward McHenry 26 25 1 Male Black Texas Electrocution [3]
2 January 4, 1957 Amos Reece 31 28 3 Georgia [4]
3 Leslie Webb 22 19 Texas [5]
4 January 11, 1957 John Gilbert Graham 24 23 1 White Colorado Gas chamber [6]
5 Otto Austin Loel 46 43 3 Oklahoma Electrocution [1]
6 January 21, 1957 Joseph Lester Ezzell 42 40 2 Florida [7]
7 February 5, 1957 Robert Hendricks 66 64 Oklahoma [8]
8 February 8, 1957 John Allen 36 28 8 California Gas chamber [9]
9 Louis Franklin Smith 38 30
10 John Felix Corbin 32 29 3 Georgia Electrocution [10]
11 Minor M. Sorber 39 35 4 Mississippi Gas chamber [11]
12 February 14, 1957 Thomas J. Edwards 23 20 3 Black U.S. military Hanging [1]
13 Winfred D. Moore 19 4
14 February 28, 1957 Leonardo Salemi 44 39 5 White New York Electrocution [12]
15 March 5, 1957 Jennings Edward Fields 33 30 3 Georgia [13]
16 March 8, 1957 John Newberry 47 Unknown Unknown [1]
17 March 14, 1957 MacDonald F. Browne 31 29 2 New York
18 March 15, 1957 Burton Wilbur Abbott 29 27 California Gas chamber [14]
19 Leon I. Domingo 23 20 3 Black Georgia Electrocution [15]
20 Isiah Styles 34 33 1 [16]
21 Jimmy Allen 36 34 2 Tennessee [1]
22 March 19, 1957 Don Mitchell Colman 18 17 1 Georgia [17]
23 Robert Lee Elder 37 Unknown Unknown [1]
24 James Toler 39 38 1 [17]
25 March 22, 1957 Clarence Johnson 56 54 2 Alabama [18]
26 March 25, 1957 Harold Ellison Hill 25 22 3 White Georgia [19]
27 April 3, 1957 Ernest L. Ransom 26 4 Black U.S. military Hanging [1]
28 April 4, 1957 Merle Wayne Ellisor 34 32 2 White Texas Electrocution [20]
29 April 24, 1957 Yancy Albert McGowen 64 61 3 [21]
30 April 26, 1957 Robert Eugene Carter 28 24 4 Black District of Columbia [22]
31 May 6, 1957 Billy Thomas Gibbs 25 23 2 White Tennessee [23]
32 May 22, 1957 Leonard John Coey Sr. 58 56 Arizona Gas chamber [24]
33 May 31, 1957 John Joseph Michel 23 19 4 Black Louisiana Electrocution [25]
34 June 4, 1957 John Lewis Gregory Jr. Unknown Unknown Virginia [1]
35 June 7, 1957 Willie Marion Daniels 20 19 1 South Carolina [26]
36 June 21, 1957 James Bush 27 24 3 Louisiana [27]
37 Joseph Washington 34 31
38 June 24, 1957 Harold Edward Shackleford 33 Unknown Unknown Ohio [1]
39 June 28, 1957 Thomas Lynn Johnston 25 24 1 White California Gas chamber [28]
40 Eddie Lee Daniels 29 28 Black Maryland [29]
41 July 5, 1957 Louis Chinn 31 3 Louisiana Electrocution [30]
42 James Eugene Smith 35 31 4 South Carolina [31]
43 July 12, 1957 Lloyd Junius Dobie 26 24 2 Virginia [32]
44 July 15, 1957 William Owens Raulerson 49 47 White Florida [1]
45 July 19, 1957 John Edward Cheary 25 24 1 California Gas chamber [33]
46 July 26, 1957 Grady Justice 29 Unknown Unknown Black Georgia Electrocution
47 August 15, 1957 Miguel Santiago 28 1 Hispanic New York [1]
48 August 16, 1957 David Joel Hardenbrook 22 20 2 White California Gas chamber [34]
49 Joseph Oscar Sheffield 28 24 4 Louisiana Electrocution [35]
50 August 21, 1957 George Krull 36 34 2 Federal government [36]
51 Michael Krull 32 30
52 Wilburn Monroe Hall 29 28 1 Texas [37]
53 September 6, 1957 Fred Gordon Mullins 41 Unknown Unknown Black Georgia [38]
54 Donald Rufus Edwards 22 21 1 Louisiana [39]
55 September 13, 1957 Thomas Ervin Moore 42 40 2 White Missouri Gas chamber [40]
56 September 14, 1957 John Wright 38 37 1 Black Texas Electrocution [1]
57 September 16, 1957 Lem Dupree 59 58 Georgia [41]
58 September 30, 1957 Roosevelt Rhone 33 31 2 Florida [42]
59 October 2, 1957 Foster Seth Dement 50 49 1 White California Gas chamber [43]
60 October 4, 1957 Henry C. Simpson 62 58 4 [44]
61 John Henry White 26 Unknown Unknown Black Georgia Electrocution [1]
62 October 11, 1957 Rhonda Belle Martin 50 44 6 Female White Alabama [45]
63 D.C. Bailey 23 21 2 Male Black Louisiana [46]
64 October 18, 1957 Raymond Allen Snowden 35 34 1 White Idaho Hanging [47]
65 November 11, 1957 Donald Keith Bashor 38 35 3 California Gas chamber [48]
66 November 14, 1957 Joe Louis Thompson 21 20 1 Black Mississippi [49]
67 November 21, 1957 David Taylor 44 42 2 New York Electrocution [1]
68 November 22, 1957 Ross McAfee 39 38 1 North Carolina Gas chamber [50]
69 December 3, 1957 Harvey John Collins 32 29 3 White Washington Hanging [51]

Demographics

[edit]
Gender
Male 68 99%
Female 1 1%
Ethnicity
Black 35 51%
White 33 48%
Hispanic 1 1%
State
Georgia 14 20%
California 9 13%
Louisiana 7 10%
Texas 6 9%
New York 4 6%
Florida 3 4%
U.S. military 3 4%
Alabama 2 3%
Federal government 2 3%
Mississippi 2 3%
Oklahoma 2 3%
South Carolina 2 3%
Tennessee 2 3%
Virginia 2 3%
Arizona 1 1%
Colorado 1 1%
District of Columbia 1 1%
Idaho 1 1%
Maryland 1 1%
Missouri 1 1%
North Carolina 1 1%
Ohio 1 1%
Washington 1 1%
Method
Electrocution 48 70%
Gas chamber 16 23%
Hanging 5 7%
Month
January 6 9%
February 8 12%
March 12 17%
April 4 6%
May 3 4%
June 7 10%
July 6 9%
August 6 9%
September 6 9%
October 6 9%
November 4 6%
December 1 1%
Age
10–19 1 1%
20–29 28 41%
30–39 24 35%
40–49 8 12%
50–59 5 7%
60–69 3 4%
Total 69 100%

Executions in recent years

[edit]
Number of executions
1958 50
1957 69
1956 65
Total 184

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
  2. ^ "District of Columbia". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  3. ^ "McHenry v. State". Justia Law.
  4. ^ "A Brutal Crime and a Case for Change". Patch. May 8, 2011. p. 5.
  5. ^ "Documentation for the execution of Leslie Webb". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
  6. ^ "Graham v. People". Justia Law.
  7. ^ "N.C. Man Executed In Florida". The Charlotte Observer via newspapers.com. January 22, 1957. p. 1.
  8. ^ "Hendricks v. State". Justia Law.
  9. ^ "Perjury Check Slated For Doomed Pair". Daily Independent Journal via newspapers.com. October 1, 1955. p. 1.
  10. ^ "Corbin v. State". Justia Law.
  11. ^ "Minor Sorber Pays In Gas Chamber For Role In Murder Of Local Man". Enterprise-Journal via newspapers.com. February 8, 1957. p. 1.
  12. ^ "United States Ex Rel. Leonardo Salemi, Petitioner-appellant, v. Wilfred L. Denno, Warden of Sing Sing Prison, Respondent-appellee, 235 F.2d 910 (2d Cir. 1956)". Justia Law.
  13. ^ "Fields v. State". vLex.
  14. ^ "Stay Of Execution Two Minutes Late". The Tuscaloosa News. March 16, 1957. p. 1.
  15. ^ "Domingo v. State". Justia Law.
  16. ^ "Styles v. State". Descrybe.ai.
  17. ^ a b "Toler v. State". vLex.
  18. ^ "Johnson v. State". Justia Law.
  19. ^ "Hill v. State". Justia Law.
  20. ^ "Ellisor v. State". Justia Law.
  21. ^ "McGowen v. State". Justia Law.
  22. ^ "Robert E. Carter, Appellant, v. United States of America, Appellee, 223 F.2d 332 (D.C. Cir. 1955)". Justia Law.
  23. ^ "Scant Hope Held For Billy Gibbs". The Tennessean via newspapers.com. May 6, 1957. p. 3.
  24. ^ "State v. Coey". Justia Law.
  25. ^ "Michel v. Louisiana, 350 U.S. 91 (1955)". Justia Law.
  26. ^ "State v. Daniels". Justia Law.
  27. ^ "State v. Washington". vLex.
  28. ^ "People v. Johnston". FindLaw.
  29. ^ "Daniels v. State". vLex.
  30. ^ "Chinn Executed for '54 Murder Of BR Peddler". West Side Journal via newspapers.com. July 12, 1957. p. 1.
  31. ^ "State v. Smith". Justia Law.
  32. ^ "Dobie v. Commonwealth". Justia Law.
  33. ^ "People v. Cheary". Stanford Law School.
  34. ^ "People v. Hardenbrook". vLex.
  35. ^ "State v. Sheffield". vLex.
  36. ^ "George Krull and Michael Krull, Appellants, v. United States of America, Appellee, 240 F.2d 122 (5th Cir. 1957)". Justia Law.
  37. ^ "Hall v. State". Justia Law.
  38. ^ "Mullins v. State". Justia Law.
  39. ^ "Summary of the execution of Donald Edwards". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
  40. ^ "State v. Moore". Justia Law.
  41. ^ "Dupree v. State". Justia Law.
  42. ^ "Rhone v. State". vLex.
  43. ^ "People v. Dement". Justia Law.
  44. ^ "People v. Simpson". vLex.
  45. ^ "Martin v. State". vLex.
  46. ^ "State v. Bailey". Justia Law.
  47. ^ "Snowden Dies On Gallows For Murder". The Idaho Statesman via newspapers.com. October 18, 1957. p. 13.
  48. ^ "People v. Bashor". Stanford Law School.
  49. ^ "Thompson v. State". Justia Law.
  50. ^ "Negro Executed For Attempted Assault, Burglary". The News-Star via newspapers.com. November 22, 1957. p. 13.
  51. ^ "State v. Collins". Justia Law.
Preceded by
1956 		   List of people executed   
   in the United States in   
1957 		Succeeded by
1958
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