On TVcrime dramas , when a defendant is condemn to death , lieutenant usually take him by the arm and escort him out of the courtroom with a eggshell - shocked look on his face . All that ’s left is a final wisecrack by a prosecutor or detective while having a celebratory Scotch whiskey , and then the credits undulate . We do n’t ask to see the bad bozo in an execution bedchamber on a gurney , with a needle in his limb . We assume that ’s proceed to happen .
In real lifetime , though , the account does n’t end so neatly . In fact , it ’s likely to sweep on for old age , even decades , as the condemnedprisonerand his lawyer contest his conviction in court . Virtually all condemned U.S. inmates obtain at least onestay of carrying into action , in which a judge cut a temporary order that blocks prison potency from carrying out the performance , usually until some sound issue is resolved [ source : Finkelman ] .
Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court , for example , generally issue a check of execution when they consort to critique a conclusion by a lower court . They also can write out a hitch to one condemned prisoner when another ’s pending case wad with a effectual issuing that may affect the first prisoner ’s fortune [ rootage : Finkelman ] .
Stays of execution can add drama to a real - aliveness case , because sometimes they are issued just days , hours or even minute before a prisoner is to be executed . And in at least one representative , a incorrect bit made the stay come too tardily .
What happened ? See the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
10: The Call That Came Too Late
Caryl Chessman , the ill-famed " red igniter bandit , " feign to be a constabulary officer so that he could rob and sexually rape woman . He was convict in 1948 on 17 felony counts [ source : Associated Press ] . Although Chessman had n’t killed anyone , the two kidnapping enumeration qualify him for the death punishment under a stringent California anti - kidnapping statute [ informant : Biography.com ] . The slew of grounds against Chessman , which included three victim who unequivocally identified him , was compelling [ source : Time ] .
Nevertheless , over the next 12 year , Chessman managed to make himself into an international cause célèbre , in part by writing several Holy Scripture concede his innocence — one of which , " cellular telephone 2455 , Death Row , " was made into a 1955 movie [ source : The New York Times ] . Numerous fame , including formerfirst ladyEleanor Roosevelt and evangelist Billy Graham , support his lawsuit . On February 1960 , California Gov. Edmund " Pat " Brown granted Chessman his eighth stay of performance , citing the concern that his carrying into action might activate demonstrations against President Eisenhower when he confabulate Uruguay [ seed : Mayer ] .
But when that stay expired , prison officials rapidly move to execute him . On May 2 , 1960 , the day of his scheduled execution at San Quentin , his lawyer beget a federal judge to issue another stay — just one min before the nitril shot were to be dropped into the flatulency chamber . The judge ’s writing table called San Quentin , but misdialed the number . By the time she got through , the pellets were already dropped and no one could enter the chamber without dying themselves . Chessman ’s execution go on [ source : life ] .
9: The Fourth Time Wasn’t a Charm
Washington state ’s Jake Bird freely admit that he was a manslayer . In fact , by various account statement , he claimed to have committed or been involved in least 29 and as many as 44 killings . Oddly , he profess innocence in the one execution of which he in reality was tried and convict , the 1947 ax murder of Bertha Kludt in Tacoma . His argument was subvert a bit by a persuasive slice of grounds — a bally ax that he was express when he was arrested near her home [ source : Associated Press ] .
But although he have fiddling formal education , Bird come up with an ingenious ploy . By proclaiming that he had committed scores of other execution , he force then - Gov. Mon Wallgren to postpone his execution , so that bureau would have a chance to enquire and see if Bird ’s admissions cleared up long - unsolved cases . ( While he may have been hyperbolize , he was n’t lie completely , because they linked him once and for all to at least 11 killings in seven states . ) to boot , Bird used legal maneuvers to find two more last - mo stays from state and federal courts .
But on July 15 , 1949 , Bird ’s luck finally ran out . After consuming his fourth " last repast , " he washangedat Washington State Penitentiary , in Walla Walla . No one claimed his body , which was buried in the prison thousand [ sources : Associated Press , United Press ] .
8: They Flipped a Coin to See Who Would Hang First
In June 1963 , James Douglas Latham and George Ronald York ( who are mentioned in the Truman Capote dead on target criminal offence book " In Cold Blood " ) were schedule to cling at midnight at a prison in Lansing , Kansas , for the 1961 murder of Otto Ziegler . He was one of seven they reportedly killed on what the Associated Press characterized as " a ill-tempered - country crime orgy . "
The two killers were allowed to set up their last meal and then were given a flaky fringe welfare : They could let the warden flip acointo limit what would be the order of hang up ( Kansas only had a single - ambuscade gallows ) . Latham called the flip and misplace , which meant he would go first . But before their sentence could be transport out , a federal appeals lawcourt had award a 30 - day stay , after theirlawyerargued that their rights had been violated because they had n’t had counseling at a preliminary audience [ source : Associated Press ] . All in all , Latham ’s and York ’s legal maneuver acquire them five postponements of their carrying out [ source : United Press International ] .
But on June 22 , 1965 , after four age on death wrangle , their luck ran out . Shortly before their neck were placed in the gin , the two dropped the guise of angry rebelliousness . " I bed it wo n’t do much good to say I ’m sorry , but I know God has forgive me , and I desire you people see fit to do the same , " York said . This time , the wire service account did n’t refer a coin flip or the order in which they were hanged [ generator : Associated Press ] .
7: He Squealed to Earn Reprieves
On the night of Oct. 16 , 1931 , Frank " The Squealer " Bell was certain that he was about to croak . Bell , who ’d profess to the looting slaying of aChicagorestaurant managing director mention Christ Patras , had earned his colourful wire religious service soubriquet through his willingness to play ball with the authorities . Not only had he entail his partner in the criminal offense , Richard Sullivan , but once behind bars , he ’d tipped off the jail ’s warden that other convicts were plotting to down him and escape . Even so , authorities were schedule to execute him and four other inmate that Nox , when a judge granted him a stoppage on cause that he deserved a sanity audience .
The jailer did n’t recognize the judge ’s voice over the phone , forcing him to rush to the jail to give up the rules of order in someone . At 11:35 p.m. just minutes before the five convicts were due in the death chamber , Bell was state to stay in his prison cell [ source : International News Service ] . Two months afterward , just minutes before he was to be electrocute , Bell get another 30 - 24-hour interval stay of slaying from Illinois Gov. Louis Emmerson . It come after a Union functionary plead for Bell ’s spirit — manifestly , in taste of information that Bell had issue about a Chicago smuggling ring [ source : Associated Press ] .
Bell eventually last to the electric chair on Jan. 8 , 1932 . In his last statement , he express a willingness to testify one more clock time , claiming that his testimony could exonerate another man — Leo Brothers , who had been convict of the 1930 slaying of corrupt Chicago newswriter Jake Lingle . This time , it did n’t save him [ beginning : Elder ] .
6: The Reprieve That Wasn’t
In the springtime of 1951 , Julius Rosenberg and his married woman Ethel were sentenced to last for fall out atom bomb calorimeter secrets to the Soviet Union , a criminal offence that federal Judge Irving Kaufman called " big than execution " [ source : Linder ] . But the couple continued to protest their innocence , and waged a desperate effectual battle to continue alive , gaining several stays of execution in the process . Finally , in June 1953 , it looked as if their luck had go out , when the U.S. Supreme Court reject a request to review their case .
With the Rosenbergs schedule to be executed in three days , their lawyer submitted new paper to one of theSupreme Court ’s judge , William O. Douglas , a substantial civic libertarian . Douglas spent 12 hours in his study alone , pondering the Rosenbergs ' longshot argument that the penal preparation of the Atomic Energy Act had been improperly applied . On the 24-hour interval before their slaying date , he blow out of the water the res publica by granting a stoppage . Douglas then depart Washington on a vacation trip , thinking that the court would hold off action for a while .
or else , Chief Justice Fred Vinson immediately cite him back for an strange exigency session of the court the next day , and by a narrow-minded 5 - 4 balloting on June 19 , 1953 , set aside Douglas ' arrest [ sources : Walz , Huston , Wasby ] . The Rosenbergs were executed at Sing Sing prison house that evening . Ethel had to be electrocute double because her centre was still puzzle after the first electrocution . Doubts about their actual guilt or innocence go forward to this solar day .
5:This Killer Inspired a Springsteen Song
1950s fling orca Charles Starkweather may be most commend today as the inspiration for Martin Sheen ’s character Kit in the 1973 picture show " Badlands , " and for Bruce Springsteen ’s 1982 song " Nebraska , " in which he explains his offense by saying : " Well , sir , I reckon there ’s just a tightness in this domain " . In literal lifetime , the 20 - twelvemonth - erstwhile was n’t half as handsome as a unseasoned Sheen , and he was no existentialist philosopher either , but rather an all - but - illiterate psychopath who overcharge and kill 11 hoi polloi because , as a shrink testify , " the act of killing stand for to him no more than stepping on a hemipteran " [ sources : Marsh , Leyton ] .
Nevertheless , in the former morning hour of May 22 , 1959 — just 90 transactions before Starkweather was scheduled to decease in the electrical chair at Nebraska State Penitentiary , a Union jurist grant a hitch of execution bespeak by Starkweather ’s father , Guy . Starkweather ’s mob , claiming their Word ’s motor hotel - appointed attorney had erred by putting on aninsanity defenserather than trying to raise doubts about his guiltiness , had fired them , leaving him without counsel . Even so , because the move had left Starkweather without a lawyer , the judge find compelled to keep up his execution so that the prisoner could find a lawyer and submit a writ to an prayer motor hotel [ source : Associated Press ] .
The reprieve did n’t save him for long . Just than a piffling more than a month later , on June 25 , 1959 , he was summoned to the decease sleeping accommodation . His last words , reportedly , were " What ’s your hurry ? " [ source : Associated Press ]
4:Ted Bundy Gets a Reprieve from “Old Sparky”
Ted Bundy , a serial killerwho may have killed more than three twelve vernal women , was once described by journalist Hugh Aynesworth as " the most profound enigma in the history of U.S. criminal DoJ . " Bundy , who was condemn to die in 1978 for savagely bludgeoning two women to death in a collegesororityhouse , and receive another death sentence in 1980 for abducting and killing a 12 - twelvemonth - onetime missy , was as demented a monster as they do [ seed : Florida State University , Johnson ] . Yet he was also handsome , articulate and charismatic enough to attract oodles of admire groupie to the courtroom [ generator : Aynesworth and Michaud ] .
And despite have multiple death conviction , the former law bookman managed to stick awake in prison for well-nigh a decade , in part by dextrously manipulating the system to cause delays . For example , he double sought delay of a clemency audition , and then on the eve of the third , sack his attorney in an endeavor to put it off one more time [ source : Nordheimer ] .
Bundy also won multiple hitch of execution . In November 1986 , two time of day after a Union justice in Orlando rejected his appeal , he arrive a three - judge federal prayer instrument panel to grant him an indefinite stay . The order came at 12:50 a.m. , just six hours before he was to be execute [ source : United Press International ] . On Jan. 24 , 1989 , though , Bundy last ran out of tricks , restrain his appointment with " Old Sparky " and was electrocute at Florida State Prison [ root : Nordheimer ] .
3: He Already Had the Needle in His Arm
On Oct. 4 , 1983 , in a land prison in Huntsville , Texas , it looked as if James David Autry was about to die . A vagrant from Amarillo , Autry had been doom to last for a 1980 double murder in which a convenience store salesclerk was shot between the eye as she render to collect $ 2.70 from Autry for a six - pack of beer [ source : Associated Press ] .
That aurora , Autry wake before dawn to start the ritual of execution . He was manacled , grade in the warden’scarand driven 13 mile ( 21 kilometers ) away to another prison in Huntsville . Then , at about midnight , after a last repast , he was strapped into a gurney , and a acerate leaf was stick in into his limb , as prison officer waited for the order to administrate a pestilent dose of chemical substance .
At 12:39 a.m. , they got a call , inform them that the U.S. Supreme Court had detain Autry ’s executing for 30 days , while it valuate the constitutionality of Texas ' execution regimen . He remained strapped in the gurney with theneedle in his armfor another half an hour , until he was secern he could return to his cellular phone [ source : Associated Press ] . Eventually , however , the motor inn ruled that Autry ’s writ of execution could go on , and he was execute in March 1984 . The inmate unsuccessfully litigate in Union court to force Texas to telecast the case live " to help stop someone else from being put on demise row"[source : Associated Press ] .
2: Witnesses Recanted, But He Was Still Executed
Troy Davis was convict in Georgia of the 1989 fatal shooting of an off - duty constabulary police officer , who came to the assistance of a homeless Isle of Man who was being beat by a chemical group of assailants that included Davis . But his guilt in the murder was challenged by the NAACP and the Innocence Project , an arrangement that has exonerated 18 death row inmate between 1992 and 2012 .
Seven of the nine trialwitnessesagainst Davis later recanted their testimony , bestow to the outcry against his execution . ( Some said one of the two continue witnesses was the real slayer . ) About 630,000 the great unwashed signed request ask that his carrying out be stopped .
In 2007 , a stateparoleboard temporarily blocked his murder with just hours to part with , and the following year , the U.S. Supreme Court interfere just 90 minute of arc before he was to break down , though it eventually refuse to find out his case .
On Sept. 20 , 2011 , Davis ' implementation was put on hold one more fourth dimension , as the Supreme Court reexamine a last - ditch request from his lawyers . But unfortunately for him , the justices decided not to intervene . Just before 11 p.m. , four time of day after the schedule time , Davis was walk into the death chamber . He continued to maintain his innocence , even attend the family of the murdered officer in the eye and telling them , " I did not personally kill your son , father , crony . All I can ask is that you delve deeper into this typeface so you really can finally see the truth . " Eight minute later , he was pronounced deadened [ seed : Severson ] .
1: He Won Two Stays in the Same Day
Warren Lee Hill ’s subject was one that prompted impassioned controversy from both sides in the argumentation about the ethics of the death punishment . To advocate , he was a menace to society for whom being behind bar was no baulk ; Hill baffle another prison yard bird to death with a nail - studded plank in 1990 , while he was serving a sprightliness sentence for the 1985 slaying of his girl . But to decease penalisation opponents , he was adevelopmentally disabledman with an IQ of just 70 , below the belt condemn to death .
Unfortunately for Hill , he committed his criminal offense in Georgia , a state where the law command inmates to try mental impairment beyond a sane doubtfulness to qualify for mercy , perhaps the strictest standard in the nation . Hill ’s lawyers responded by attacking the Georgia standard as unjust , even as they also elevate questions about whether Georgia ’s deadly injection - drug regime violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment . In Feb. 19 2013 , they acquire an unusual double victory , simultaneously obtaining stays of executing from both federal and state royal court . The respite came just in time — about 30 minute before Hill was schedule to receive a deadly injection at a state prison house south of Atlanta [ source : Watkins and Smith ] . For Hill , it was the second tight call . In July 2012 , he received a stay from the Georgia Supreme Court just hours before he was to be execute [ root : CNN ] . However on January 27 , 2015 he was finally put to death . His attorney call it a " grotesque miscarriage of justice " [ source : Connor ] .
Lots More Information
In my 30 - year career as a journalist , I ’ve covered a number of murder cases . I ’ve list to some gruesome courtroom testimony about extreme acts of violence and make to see the perpetrators tightlipped - up . I ’ve also cope with the sept of murder victims , and reckon the grief and trauma they ’ve receive . As a result , I do n’t have much sympathy for convicted killers , and I do n’t have any nonfigurative moral qualms about the death penalty . In practical terms , however , I also know that capital punishment does n’t figure out very well , because control that there are n’t any unlawful executions necessitates an appeal appendage that can be lengthy , time - consuming , and highly expensive to taxpayers . As a result , Randy Kraft , a California serial killer whose case I covered in the 1980s , was still model on death row at San Quentin prison 24 years after his conviction for 16 execution . I ’m venture that the cost of litigating his appeals and keeping him in segregated , high - security confinement all those age has price taxpayer many extra millions of dollars , while providing little consolation to his victim ' category .
