List of people executed in the United States in 1950

Eighty-three people, all male, were executed in the United States in 1950, sixty-six by electrocution, fifteen by gas chamber, and two by hanging.[1]

List of people executed in the United States in 1950

No. Date of execution Name Age of person Gender Ethnicity State Method Ref.
At execution At offense Age difference
1 January 5, 1950 Frank Bruno 33 29 4 Male White New York Electrocution [2]
2 January 6, 1950 Lee Heller 49 48 1 Black North Carolina Gas chamber [3]
3 January 9, 1950 Edward E. DiPofi Jr. 25 23 2 White Pennsylvania Electrocution [4]
4 Ray Herman Simmons 26 3 [5]
5 January 12, 1950 Eddie Patton 38 34 4 Black Mississippi [6]
6 George Peter Reeh 32 31 1 White New York [7]
7 January 24, 1950 Clyde Steele 20 18 2 Black Tennessee [8]
8 January 26, 1950 Arthur Moore 18 16 Mississippi [9]
9 January 27, 1950 Eddie Houser Jr. 22 Unknown Unknown Georgia [1]
10 January 29, 1950 Samuel B. Gibson 24 22 2 Texas
11 February 5, 1950 William Wilson Jr. 31 29
12 February 9, 1950 James Wood Morrow Jr. 29 27 White
13 February 24, 1950 Victoriano Corrales 48 47 1 Hispanic California Gas chamber [10]
14 Raymond Ellison 38 36 2 White Kentucky Electrocution [11]
15 Harry Z. Dodds Jr. 21 20 1 Ohio [12]
16 February 27, 1950 John William Givens 52 49 3 Pennsylvania [13]
17 George N. Minoff 50 2
18 March 10, 1950 Thomas Edwin Black 28 27 1 Arkansas [14]
19 March 17, 1950 Hollis Edward Needham 27 26 [15]
20 March 31, 1950 Armand Halcyon Letourneau 40 38 2 California Gas chamber [16]
21 April 4, 1950 Buford Tansimore 53 51 Black New Jersey Electrocution [17]
22 April 5, 1950 James Willis Blackmon Jr. 24 23 1 Texas [1]
23 William Smith Jr. 22 20 2
24 April 14, 1950 Eugene R. LaMoore 46 42 4 Federal government Hanging [18]
25 April 21, 1950 Jesse Wyatt 39 38 1 Georgia Electrocution [19]
26 Fred Varela 26 24 2 Hispanic Illinois [20]
27 Alphonso Najera 27 25
28 April 24, 1950 Robert Louis Smith 41 40 1 White Arkansas [1]
29 April 28, 1950 John Patrick Carrigan 29 28 Georgia
30 May 3, 1950 Lee Everett Bunn 27 26 Black Texas
31 May 6, 1950 George Miller 60 57 3 Kansas Hanging [21]
32 May 10, 1950 Theodore Roosevelt McClure Jr. 25 21 4 Ohio Electrocution [22]
33 May 17, 1950 Nathaniel Edwards 27 26 1 Texas [1]
34 May 19, 1950 Charles Henry Tiedt 55 51 4 White Missouri Gas chamber [23]
35 John Robert Bridges 22 21 1 North Carolina [1]
36 May 25, 1950 John West Pulliam 19 18 Black Mississippi Electrocution [24]
37 Julio Ramirez Perez 38 36 2 Hispanic New York [1]
38 May 26, 1950 Charley Smith 25 23 Black Alabama
39 Robert Frank Bryan 19 Unknown Unknown Georgia
40 June 2, 1950 Edward Albert Huizenga 58 57 1 White California Gas chamber [25]
41 Charles Walter Butler 40 36 4 Black South Carolina Electrocution [1]
42 June 5, 1950 Henry Van Tillman 50 49 1 White Florida [26]
43 June 9, 1950 William R. Ray 35 33 2 Texas [27]
44 June 14, 1950 Porter Henderson 47 Unknown Unknown Black [1]
45 June 16, 1950 Columbus Webb 43 41 2 White Kentucky [28]
46 June 21, 1950 Felix Ambrose Lewis 47 46 1 Texas [29]
47 June 22, 1950 Dan White 49 47 2 [30]
48 June 30, 1950 E.T. Preylow Unknown Unknown Unknown Black South Carolina [31]
49 Eugene McFarland 26 25 1 Texas [32]
50 July 14, 1950 Lovell Shaffer Mississippi [33]
51 Otis Wilkerson
52 July 21, 1950 Joe Keith 29 27 2 Alabama [34]
53 Homer Garland Odom 24 22 White [35]
54 Claude B. Sims 20 19 1 Black [36]
55 Claude Everett Shackelford 34 33 White North Carolina Gas chamber [37]
56 Delbert Lovell Spencer 51 47 4 Ohio Electrocution [38]
57 July 29, 1950 Angel B. Serna 27 24 3 Hispanic Arizona Gas chamber [39]
58 August 4, 1950 Henry Hooper 45 44 1 Black California [40]
59 Larry Elmore 43 Unknown Unknown South Carolina Electrocution [1]
60 August 18, 1950 Charles Cade 20 19 1 Georgia [41]
61 Lincoln Mays 24 23
62 Curtis Wynn Jr. 20 19
63 August 24, 1950 James Williams 32 30 2 Nevada Gas chamber [42]
64 September 12, 1950 Cecil H. Yankey 42 39 3 White Ohio Electrocution [43]
65 September 25, 1950 Walter Joseph Maloney Jr. 40 2 Pennsylvania [44]
66 Alexander Niemi 31 29
67 September 29, 1950 George McKay 36 30 6 Black Georgia [1]
68 October 6, 1950 Herman Avery 50 49 1 California Gas chamber [45]
69 Henry Brun Guldbrandsen 36 34 2 White [46]
70 October 28, 1950 Jimmie Lee Gardner 27 26 1 Black Georgia Electrocution [1]
71 November 3, 1950 Jimmie Richardson 47 47 0 [47]
72 John Walton Wallace 54 51 3 White [1]
73 November 10, 1950 Covey Conner Lamm 48 47 1 North Carolina Gas chamber [48]
74 November 17, 1950 Willard Truelove 31 30 Black Illinois Electrocution [1]
75 Alfred Rayfield 35 35 0 Virginia
76 November 21, 1950 George A. Kersey Sr. 28 27 1 White Georgia [49]
77 Thomas Lynch 31 31 0
78 November 24, 1950 Ernest Lyles 33 Unknown Unknown North Carolina Gas chamber [1]
79 December 1, 1950 Paul Montez Gutierrez 26 25 1 Hispanic California [50]
80 Edward Sanford Unknown Unknown Unknown Black Louisiana Electrocution [51]
81 December 8, 1950 Ben Franklin Fuller 43 42 1 Virginia [52]
82 December 29, 1950 Edward Exnoal Johnson Jr. 31 30 Texas [1]
83 December 30, 1950 Franklin Sherman Click 25 6 White Indiana [53]

Demographics

Gender
Male 83 100%
Female 0 0%
Ethnicity
Black 42 51%
White 35 42%
Hispanic 6 7%
State
Georgia 13 16%
Texas 13 16%
California 7 8%
Pennsylvania 6 7%
Mississippi 5 6%
North Carolina 5 6%
Alabama 4 5%
Ohio 4 5%
Arkansas 3 4%
Illinois 3 4%
New York 3 4%
South Carolina 3 4%
Kentucky 2 2%
Virginia 2 2%
Arizona 1 1%
Federal government 1 1%
Florida 1 1%
Indiana 1 1%
Kansas 1 1%
Louisiana 1 1%
Missouri 1 1%
Nevada 1 1%
New Jersey 1 1%
Tennessee 1 1%
Method
Electrocution 66 80%
Gas chamber 15 18%
Hanging 2 2%
Month
January 10 12%
February 7 8%
March 3 4%
April 9 11%
May 10 12%
June 10 12%
July 8 10%
August 6 7%
September 4 5%
October 3 4%
November 8 10%
December 5 6%
Age
Unknown 2 2%
10–19 3 4%
20–29 32 39%
30–39 19 23%
40–49 17 20%
50–59 9 11%
60–69 1 1%
Total 83 100%

Executions in recent years

Number of executions
1951 101
1950 83
1949 120
Total 304

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File" (PDF). Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  2. ^ "Bruno Dies in Chair at Sing Sing". The New York Times. January 6, 1950.
  3. ^ "State v. Heller". vLex.
  4. ^ "DiPofi Dies in Electric Chair For Slaying Bethel Officer". The Pittsburgh Press. January 9, 1950. p. 1.
  5. ^ "DiPofi Shuffles, Prays Way To Death in Electric Chair". The Pittsburgh Press. January 9, 1950. p. 1.
  6. ^ "Buster Patton Dies In The Electric Chair". Jackson Advocate via newspapers.com. January 21, 1950. p. 1.
  7. ^ "Reeh, Slayer, Is Put to Death". The New York Times. January 13, 1950.
  8. ^ "Two To Get Chair in Assault Case". The Knoxville News-Sentinel via newspapers.com. June 17, 1948. p. 9.
  9. ^ "Two To Get Chair in Assault Case". Washington Afro-American. January 31, 1950. p. 8.
  10. ^ "Slayer of Two Dies Today". The San Francisco Examiner via newspapers.com. February 24, 1950. p. 17.
  11. ^ "Muhlenberg County Man Dies in Chair for Bride's Death". Evansville Press via newspapers.com. February 24, 1950. p. 11.
  12. ^ "Slayer Of Ohio Church Worker Dies In Chair". Kentucky New Era. February 27, 1950. p. 1.
  13. ^ "Two Executed At Rockview". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. February 27, 1950. p. 1.
  14. ^ "Nurse Slayer Goes To Death In Chair Ending Long Fight". The Evening Independent. March 10, 1950. p. 1.
  15. ^ "Former Taxi Driver Dies in Electric Chair". St. Petersburg Times. March 19, 1950. p. 34.
  16. ^ "People v. Letourneau". Justia Law.
  17. ^ "State v. Tansimore". Justia Law.
  18. ^ "LaMoore v. United States". Justia Law.
  19. ^ "Wyatt v. State". vLex.
  20. ^ "State Writes "Paid in Full" for Murderers". The Daily Calumet via newspapers.com. April 21, 1950. p. 1.
  21. ^ "State v. Miller". Justia Law.
  22. ^ "Execution Of Man Halted By 11th-Hour Edict". Painesville Telegraph. March 11, 1950. p. 1.
  23. ^ "State v. Tiedt". Justia Law.
  24. ^ "Negro Executed at Vicksburg Jail". Sun Herald via newspapers.com. May 25, 1950. p. 1.
  25. ^ "People v. Huizenga". Justia Law.
  26. ^ "Tillman v. State". Justia Law.
  27. ^ "Attacker Is Electrocuted". St. Joseph News-Press. June 9, 1950. p. 1.
  28. ^ "Webb v. Commonwealth". vLex.
  29. ^ "Sisters Visit Convict Before Execution". Fort Worth Star-Telegram via newspapers.com. June 21, 1950. p. 4.
  30. ^ "White v. State". Justia Law.
  31. ^ "Man Slated To Die In Electric Chair". Herald-Journal. June 30, 1950. p. 3.
  32. ^ "Negro Given Death Sentence In Rape Case". The Victoria Advocate. March 8, 1950. p. 7.
  33. ^ "Shaffer v. State". vLex.
  34. ^ "Keith v. State". Justia Law.
  35. ^ "Odom v. State". Justia Law.
  36. ^ "Sims v. State". Justia Law.
  37. ^ "Shackelford Dies After Hymn Fest". Star-News. July 22, 1950. p. 6.
  38. ^ "Plea To Lausche Fails; Slayer To Die Tonight". Toledo Blade. July 21, 1950. p. 25.
  39. ^ "Board Refuses Execution Stay For Rocky Serna". Prescott Evening Courier. July 27, 1950. p. 3.
  40. ^ "People v. Hooper". Stanford Law School.
  41. ^ "Three Men Electrocuted". Lawrence Journal-World. August 19, 1950. p. 2.
  42. ^ "State v. Williams". Justia Law.
  43. ^ "Yankey To Die Tonight For 1947 Slaying". The Portsmouth Times. September 12, 1950. p. 11.
  44. ^ "Commonwealth v. Maloney". Justia Law.
  45. ^ "People v. Avery". Stanford Law School.
  46. ^ "People v. Guldbrandsen". Stanford Law School.
  47. ^ "Richardson v. State". CaseMine.
  48. ^ "Wilson Man Held In Wife's Death". Rocky Mount Telegram via newspapers.com. February 28, 1950. p. 2.
  49. ^ "Truck Driver Dies Of Gunshot Wounds". Herald-Journal. March 21, 1950. p. 4.
  50. ^ "People v. Gutierrez". Stanford Law School.
  51. ^ "State v. Sanford". CaseMine.
  52. ^ "Killer Electrocuted In Richmond Today". The Free Lance-Star. December 8, 1950. p. 4.
  53. ^ "Slayer Will Pay Death Penalty In Strange Case". The Bulletin. December 29, 1950. p. 3.
Preceded by
1949 		   List of people executed   
   in the United States in   
1950 		Succeeded by
1951
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