USA - botched executions

USA - 61 botched executions since 1977

February 29, 2024:

February 29, 2024 - USA. On February 28 in Idaho, the execution of Thomas Creech was halted after nearly an hour of trying to insert needles. In the United States these kinds of "accidents" are called "botched executions," The term encompasses both executions that were nevertheless completed and thus resulted in the death of the condemned person and those that were aborted with the condemned person's survival. A professor at the University of Colorado, Michael L. Radelet, dean of Sociology, keeps an up-to-date list of "Post-Furman Botched Executions," meaning Furman the 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Furman v. Georgia) that declared that state's death penalty law unconstitutional, and by extension the laws of all other states. The various states adjusted their laws, and in 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court declared that the new laws returned the death penalty "constitutional." Executions resumed the following year, 1977.
Professor Radlet's list, with a brief description of events, can also be found on the Death Penalty Information Center's website at https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/botched-executions.
The list, updated as of Feb. 28, shows the following names: 

1. August 10, 1982. Virginia. Frank J. Coppola. Electrocution.
2. April 22, 1983. Alabama. John Evans. Electrocution.
3. September 2, 1983. Mississippi. Jimmy Lee Gray. Asphyxiation.
4. December 12, 1984. Georgia. Alpha Otis Stephens. Electrocution.
5. March 13, 1985. Texas. Stephen Peter Morin. Lethal Injection.
6. October 16, 1985. Indiana. William E. Vandiver. Electrocution.
7. August 20, 1986. Texas. Randy Woolls. Lethal Injection.
8. June 24, 1987. Texas. Elliot Rod Johnson. Lethal Injection.
9. December 13, 1988. Texas. Raymond Landry. Lethal Injection.
10. May 24, 1989. Texas. Stephen McCoy. Lethal Injection.
11. July 14, 1989. Alabama. Horace Franklin Dunkins, Jr. Electrocution.
12. May 4, 1990. Florida. Jesse Joseph Tafero. Electrocution.
13. September 12, 1990. Illinois. Charles Walker. Lethal Injection.
14. October 17, 1990. Virginia. Wilbert Lee Evans. Electrocution.
15. August 22, 1991. Virginia. Derick Lynn Peterson. Electrocution.
16. January 24, 1992. Arkansas. Rickey Ray Rector. Lethal Injection.
17. April 6, 1992. Arizona. Donald Eugene Harding. Asphyxiation.
18. March 10, 1992. Oklahoma. Robyn Lee Parks. Lethal Injection.
19. April 23, 1992. Texas. Billy Wayne White. Lethal Injection.
20. May 7, 1992. Texas. Justin Lee May. Lethal Injection.
21. May 10, 1994. Illinois. John Wayne Gacy. Lethal Injection.
22. May 3, 1995. Missouri. Emmitt Foster. Lethal Injection.
23. January 23, 1996. Virginia. Richard Townes, Jr. Lethal Injection.
24. July 18, 1996. Indiana. Tommie J. Smith. Lethal Injection.
25. March 25, 1997. Florida. Pedro Medina. Electrocution.
26. May 8, 1997. Oklahoma. Scott Dawn Carpenter. Lethal Injection.
27. June 13, 1997. South Carolina. Michael Eugene Elkins. Lethal Injection.
28. April 23, 1998. Texas. Joseph Cannon. Lethal Injection.
29. August 26, 1998. Texas. Genaro Ruiz Camacho. Lethal Injection.
30. October 5, 1998. Nevada. Roderick Abeyta. Lethal Injection.
31. July 8, 1999. Florida. Allen Lee Davis. Electrocution.
32. May 3, 2000. Arkansas. Christina Marie Riggs. Lethal Injection.
33. June 8, 2000. Florida. Bennie Demps. Lethal Injection.
34. December 7, 2000. Texas. Claude Jones. Lethal Injection.
35. June 28, 2000. Missouri. Bert Leroy Hunter. Lethal Injection.
36. November 7, 2001. Georgia. Jose High. Lethal Injection.
37. May 2, 2006. Ohio. Joseph L. Clark. Lethal Injection.
38. December 13, 2006. Florida. Angel Diaz. Lethal Injection.
39. May 24, 2007. Ohio. Christopher Newton. Lethal Injection.
40. June 26, 2007. Georgia. John Hightower. Lethal Injection.
41. June 4, 2008. Georgia. Curtis Osborne. Lethal Injection.
42. September 15, 2009. Ohio. Romell Broom. Lethal Injection (failed).
43. September 27, 2010. Georgia. Brandon Joseph Rhode. Lethal Injection.
44. January 16, 2014. Ohio. Dennis McGuire. Lethal Injection.
45. April 29, 2014. Oklahoma. Clayton D. Lockett. Lethal Injection.
46. July 23, 2014. Arizona. Joseph R. Wood. Lethal Injection.
47. December 9, 2015. Georgia. Brian Keith Terrell. Lethal Injection.
48. February 3, 2016. Georgia. Brandon Jones. Lethal Injection.
49. December 8, 2016. Alabama. Ronald Bert Smith, Jr. Lethal Injection.
50. October 19, 2017. Alabama. Torrey McNabb. Lethal Injection.
51. November 15, 2017. Ohio. Alva Campbell. Lethal Injection (failed).
52. February 22, 2018. Alabama. Doyle Lee Hamm. Lethal Injection (failed).
53. October 28, 2021. Oklahoma. John Marion Grant. Lethal Injection.
54. May 11, 2022. Arizona. Clarence Dixon. Lethal Injection.
55. June 8, 2022. Arizona. Frank Atwood. Lethal Injection.
56. July 28, 2022. Alabama. Joe Nathan James, Jr. Lethal Injection.
57. September 22, 2022. Alabama. Alan Eugene Miller. Lethal Injection (failed).
58. November 16, 2022. Stephen Barbee. Texas. Lethal Injection.
59. November 16, 2022. Arizona. Murray Hooper. Lethal Injection.
60. November 17, 2022. Kenneth Eugene Smith. Alabama. Lethal Injection (failed).
61. February 28, 2024. Thomas Creech. Idaho. Lethal Injection (failed).