List of people executed in the United States in 1962

Forty-seven people, forty-six male and one female, were executed in the United States in 1962, twenty-nine by electrocution, fifteen by gas chamber, and three by hanging.[1]

The state of Iowa would conduct their final executions before abolishing capital punishment in 1965. Elizabeth Ann Duncan was the last woman executed before the ruling of Furman v. Georgia, and would be the last woman executed in the United States until 1984. Herbert Bradley was the last person to be executed for a robbery where the victim did not die. The victim was left permanently disabled after being shot six times and beaten with a hammer, but did not die.

List of people executed in the United States in 1962

No. Date of execution Name Age of person Gender Ethnicity State Method Ref.
At execution At offense Age difference
1 January 10, 1962 Charles Louis Forgey 23 21 2 Male White Texas Electrocution [2]
2 January 11, 1962 Rudolph Wright 31 29 Black California Gas chamber [3]
3 Roosevelt Wiley 29 26 3 Texas Electrocution [4]
4 January 17, 1962 Elbert Lyndon Carter 24 23 1 California Gas chamber [5]
5 January 29, 1962 Frank McCoy 36 31 5 White Pennsylvania Electrocution [6]
6 March 2, 1962 James Kelley Moss 48 44 4 Kentucky [7]
7 Carroll Lewis Garland 26 26 0 Black Virginia [1]
8 March 7, 1962 Henry Ray Lane Jr. 24 22 2 White California Gas chamber [8]
9 March 9, 1962 Harold David Wooley 37 35 Colorado [9]
10 March 20, 1962 Donald Ray Wilson 22 20 Texas Electrocution [1]
11 March 23, 1962 Vincent Ciucci 35 27 8 Illinois [10]
12 April 2, 1962 Elmo Lee Smith 41 38 3 Pennsylvania [11]
13 April 18, 1962 Robert Green Hughes 27 25 2 Black California Gas chamber [12]
14 April 19, 1962 Adrian Lee Johnson 19 17 Texas Electrocution [13]
15 April 20, 1962 Douglas Clee Thorne 27 24 3 White South Carolina [14]
16 Ray Landy Young 29 26 Black [15]
17 May 11, 1962 Willie Wilson 22 21 1 Mississippi Gas chamber [16]
18 May 12, 1962 Robert Lee Jefferson 23 21 2 Florida Electrocution [17]
19 Johnnie Hill 28 26 [1]
20 May 16, 1962 Herbert Lemuel Bradley Sr. 20 19 1 Texas [18]
21 May 23, 1962 Howard Bartlett Stickney 24 20 4 White [19]
22 May 25, 1962 Walter Joseph Hammill 31 27 Colorado Gas chamber [20]
23 June 1, 1962 Ronald George Fenton 29 2 Ohio Electrocution [1]
24 June 6, 1962 Henry Adolph Busch 30 28 California Gas chamber [21]
25 June 22, 1962 James Rodney Buck 24 22 Ohio Electrocution [1]
26 July 3, 1962 Fred T. Sturdivant 27 5 Black New Jersey [22]
27 July 18, 1962 Walter Henry Mosley 26 24 2 White Texas [23]
28 July 24, 1962 Charles Noel Brown 29 27 Iowa Hanging [24]
29 July 31, 1962 Joseph Roland Ernst Jr. 25 22 3 New Jersey Electrocution [25]
30 August 8, 1962 Elizabeth Ann Duncan 58 54 4 Female California Gas chamber [26]
31 Augustine Baldonado 28 25 3 Male Hispanic [26]
32 Luis Estrada Moya 23 20 [26]
33 August 20, 1962 Leroy Sanford McGahuey 41 40 1 White Oregon [27]
34 August 24, 1962 James Dukes 37 31 6 Black Illinois Electrocution [28]
35 August 31, 1962 Wilmon Gosa Sr. 42 39 3 Alabama [29]
36 September 4, 1962 Lawrence Christopher Garner 30 27 White California Gas chamber [30]
37 September 5, 1962 Bobby Louis Stein 29 2 Black Texas Electrocution [1]
38 September 6, 1962 Samuel Johnson 42 39 3 Florida [31]
39 Charles Edwin Kelley 21 20 1 White Iowa Hanging [24]
40 September 24, 1962 William Earl Leach 24 21 3 Florida Electrocution [32]
41 Joe Smith 25 22 [32]
42 October 1, 1962 Melvin Thomas Darling 29 28 1 California Gas chamber [33]
43 Shelby Leon Doggett 25 23 2 Oklahoma Electrocution [34]
44 October 6, 1962 Roscoe Gibson 36 34 Black Texas [35]
45 November 14, 1962 Sammie Lee Smith 27 25 Georgia [36]
46 November 21, 1962 Allen Ditson 42 39 3 White California Gas chamber [37]
47 November 30, 1962 Lowell Lee Andrews 22 18 4 Kansas Hanging [38]

Demographics

Gender
Male 46 98%
Female 1 2%
Ethnicity
White 27 57%
Black 18 38%
Hispanic 2 4%
State
California 11 23%
Texas 9 19%
Florida 5 11%
Colorado 2 4%
Illinois 2 4%
Iowa 2 4%
New Jersey 2 4%
Ohio 2 4%
Pennsylvania 2 4%
South Carolina 2 4%
Alabama 1 2%
Georgia 1 2%
Kansas 1 2%
Kentucky 1 2%
Mississippi 1 2%
Oklahoma 1 2%
Oregon 1 2%
Virginia 1 2%
Method
Electrocution 29 62%
Gas chamber 15 32%
Hanging 3 6%
Month
January 5 11%
February 0 0%
March 6 13%
April 5 11%
May 6 13%
June 3 6%
July 4 9%
August 6 13%
September 6 13%
October 3 6%
November 3 6%
December 0 0%
Age
10–19 1 2%
20–29 30 64%
30–39 9 19%
40–49 6 13%
50–59 1 2%
Total 47 100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1963 21
1962 47
1961 43
Total 111

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  2. ^ "Rapist Weeps At Execution At Huntsville". Corpus Christi Caller-Times via newspapers.com. January 10, 1962. p. 8.
  3. ^ "People v. Wright". Stanford Law School.
  4. ^ "Wiley v. State". Justia Law.
  5. ^ "People v. Carter". Stanford Law School.
  6. ^ "Frank McCoy Will Die Tonight For Murder of Philadelphian". Standard-Speaker via newspapers.com. January 29, 1962. p. 18.
  7. ^ "Moss execution was last in Kentucky for 35 years". Courier & Press. February 25, 2012.
  8. ^ "People v. Lane". FindLaw.
  9. ^ "Wooley v. People". Justia Law.
  10. ^ "Girl, On Stand at Trial, Tells Love for Ciucci". Chicago Tribune via M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives. July 27, 1954.
  11. ^ "Commonwealth v. Smith". Justia Law.
  12. ^ "People v. Hughes". Justia Law.
  13. ^ "The Icebox Revisited". Dallas Observer. March 11, 2004.
  14. ^ "State v. Thorne". Justia Law.
  15. ^ "State v. Young". Justia Law.
  16. ^ "Wilson v. State". Justia Law.
  17. ^ "Jefferson v. State". Justia Law.
  18. ^ "Herbert Lemuel Bradley v. State". AnyLaw.
  19. ^ "Stickney v. State". Justia Law.
  20. ^ "Judge Denies Hammill Try to Escape Death". The Rocky Mountain News via Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. January 18, 1962. p. 62.
  21. ^ "In re Busch". Justia Law.
  22. ^ "Fred Sturdivant Executed for Step-Daughter's Death". The Daily Record via newspapers.com. July 5, 1962. p. 6.
  23. ^ "Mosley v. State". Justia Law.
  24. ^ a b "State v. Kelley". Justia Law.
  25. ^ "Ernst Executed For Killing Girl". Courier-Post via newspapers.com. August 1, 1962. p. 1.
  26. ^ a b c "Ernst Executed For Killing Girl". UPI. November 1, 1984.
  27. ^ "Oregon Executes Killer Of Child". The Olympian via newspapers.com. August 20, 1962. p. 1.
  28. ^ "28 YEARS AGO, A KILLER PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE". Chicago Tribune. September 11, 1990.
  29. ^ "Gosa v. State". Justia Law.
  30. ^ "State Executes Desert Slayer at San Quentin". The Bakersfield Californian via newspapers.com. September 4, 1962. p. 24.
  31. ^ "Johnson v. State". Justia Law.
  32. ^ a b "Leach v. State". Justia Law.
  33. ^ "Melvin Darling Put To Death At San Quentin Gas Chamber". Daily Independent Journal via newspapers.com. October 1, 1962. p. 5.
  34. ^ "Doggett v. State". Justia Law.
  35. ^ "Summary of the execution of Roscoe Gibson". M. E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives.
  36. ^ "Smith v. State". Justia Law.
  37. ^ "People v. Ditson". Stanford Law School.
  38. ^ "Andrews Casual To End". The Iola Register via newspapers.com. November 30, 1962. p. 1.
Preceded by
1961 		   List of people executed   
   in the United States in   
1962 		Succeeded by
1963
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