Capital punishment in Nebraska
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[[Image:Nebraska's electric chair.JPG|200px|frame|'Old Sparky' is the electric chair that Nebraska used for executions. It is housed in the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, Nebraska]]
'''[[Capital punishment]]''' is legal in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Nebraska]]. A total of 37 individuals have been executed in [[Nebraska]] including 3 since [[1976]]. A total of 10 people are under a [[capital punishment|sentence of death]] in the state as of [[June]], [[2008]]. The only capital crime is [[first degree murder]].
The current legally prescribed method of [[capital punishment|execution]] in [[Nebraska]] is [[electric chair]]; however, on [[February 8]], [[2008]], the [[Nebraska Supreme Court]] declared that use of the electric chair to carry out executions constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment." Executions in Nebraska will be effectively stayed until a new method of capital punishment is adopted by the state legislature.
==Process==
The [[jury]] decides the sentence and may punish First Degree Murder as a Class I [[felony]] or a Class IA felony. According to Nebraska law, Class I felonies mean [[capital punishment|death]] is the punishment and Class IA felonies mean [[life imprisonment]] without [[parole]] is the punishment. Death sentences are automatically appealed to a three-judge panel. The [[Governor of Nebraska]] sits on the board that determines [[clemency]]. 31 people have been given clemency including 11 since 1976. First Degree Murder is the only Class I crime. [[Nebraska State Penitentiary]] is where executions in Nebraska have taken place since [[1903]]. People who are under 18 at the time of the crime or [[mentally retarded]] are (federally) constitutionally precluded from being executed.
==Method==
[[Hanging]] was the method [[Nebraska]] used up to the [[capital punishment|execution]] of Albert Prince. In 1913 after the execution of Albert Prince, a new law was passed requiring electric chair as the method of execution and outlawed hanging. Allison Colle was the first person executed by the [[electric chair]] in [[Nebraska]]. As of 2007, the electric chair was required as the method of execution.
However, on [[February 8]], [[2008]], the Nebraska Supreme Court declared execution by electrocution to constitute "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Nebraska Constitution, effectively staying all death sentences in Nebraska until another means of capital punishment has been approved by the state legislature.<ref>http://www.supremecourt.ne.gov/opinions/2008/february/feb8/s05-1268.pdf</ref>
==Capital offenses==
* First Degree Murder
** First degree murder is killing another person by :
*** Murdering the person purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice.
*** Murdering the person in the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate any [[sexual assault]] in the first degree, arson, robbery, [[kidnapping]], [[Carjacking|hijacking]] of any public or private means of transportation, or [[burglary]].
*** Murdering the person by administering poison or causing the same to be done; or if by willful and corrupt [[perjury]] or [[wikt:subornation|subornation]] of the same he or she purposely procures the conviction and execution of any innocent person.
==List of individuals executed in Nebraska before 1976==
A total of 14 individuals have been executed in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Nebraska]] from its statehood in [[1867]] when counties carried out executions until [[1903]] when the state took over executions.
{|class="wikitable"
|----
!
!Executed person
!Date of execution
!Method
!Crime
|----
|1
|Samuel Richards
|[[15 January]] [[1879]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|2
|Orlando Cassler
|[[20 May]] [[1879]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|3
|Milton Smith
|[[24 July]] [[1885]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|4
|Jim Reynolds
|[[21 May]] [[1886]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|5
|Jackson Marion
|[[25 March]] [[1887]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|6
|David Hoffman
|[[22 July]] [[1887]]
|[[hanging]]
|unknown
|----
|7
|Ed Neil
|[[9 January]] [[1891]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|8
|Albert Haunstine
|[[17 May]] [[1891]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|9
|Christian Fuerst
|[[5 June]] [[1891]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|10
|Charles Sheppard
|[[5 June]] [[1891]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|11
|Clinton Dixon
|[[24 June]] [[1892]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|12
|Harry Hill
|[[1 March]] [[1895]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|13
|Claude Hoover
|[[7 August]] [[1896]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|14
|George Morgan
|[[8 January]] [[1897]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|}
A total of 20 individuals have been executed by the [[U.S. state]] of [[Nebraska]] until the 1972 [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] capital punishment ban.
{|class="wikitable"
|----
!
!Executed person
!Date of execution
!Method
!Crime
|----
|1
|Gottlieb Niegenfiend
|[[13 March]] [[1903]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|2
|William Rhea
|[[10 July]] [[1903]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|3
|Harrison Clark
|[[13 December]] [[1907]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|4
|Frank Barker
|[[17 January]] [[1908]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|5
|R. Shumway
|[[5 March]] [[1909]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|6
|Bert Taylor
|[[28 January]] [[1910]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|7
|Thomas Johnson
|[[19 May]] [[1911]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|8
|Albert Prince
|[[21 March]] [[1913]]
|[[hanging]]
|murder
|----
|9
|Allison Cole
|[[20 December]] [[1920]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|10
|Allen Grammer
|[[20 December]] [[1920]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|11
|James King
|[[9 January]] [[1922]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|12
|Walter Simmons
|[[11 August]] [[1925]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|13
|Henry Bartlett
|[[29 April]] [[1927]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|14
|[[Frank Carter]]
|[[24 June]] [[1927]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|15
|Frank Sharp
|[[19 January]] [[1928]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|16
|Henry Sherman
|[[31 May]] [[1929]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|17
|Joseph Macavoy
|[[23 March]] [[1945]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|18
|Timothy Iron Bear
|[[1 December]] [[1948]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|19
|Roland Sundahl
|[[30 April]] [[1952]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|20
|[[Charles Starkweather]]
|[[25 June]] [[1959]]
|[[electric chair]]
|murder
|----
|}
==List of individuals executed in Nebraska after 1976==
A total of 3 individuals convicted of murder have been executed by the [[U.S. state]] of [[Nebraska]] since 1976. All were executed by [[electric chair]].
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!
!Executed person
!Date of execution
!Victims
!Under Governor
|-
|1
|[[Harold Lamont Otey|Harold Lamont "Wili" Otey]]
|[[2 September]] [[1994]]
|Jane McManus
|[[Ben Nelson]]
|-
|2
|[[John Joubert (criminal)|John Joubert]]
|[[17 July]] [[1996]]
|Danny Eberle and Christopher Walden
|[[Ben Nelson]]
|-
|3
|[[Robert E. Williams]]<ref>[http://dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corrections/InmateDisplayServlet?DcsId=31861 Inmate Details: 31861 -- Robert Williams]. ''Nebraska Department of Correctional Services''. Retrieved on [[2007-08-17]].</ref><ref>Matthew Waite. [http://media.www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/1997/12/03/News/Williams.Marks.States.Third.Electrocution-2091833.shtml Williams marks state's third electrocution]. ''Daily Nebraskan'' ([[1997-12-03]]). Retrieved on [[2007-08-17]].
</ref>
|[[2 December]] [[1997]]
|Catherine Brook, Patricia McGarry, Virginia Rowe
|[[Ben Nelson]]
|-
|}
== See also ==
* [[Capital punishment in the United States]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/NEBRASKA.htm List of executions in Nebraska]
* [http://law.justia.com/nebraska/codes/s28index/s2803003000.html/ First Degree Murder]
* [http://law.justia.com/nebraska/codes/s28index/s2801005000.html/ Classes and Penalties for Felonies]
* [http://law.justia.com/nebraska/codes/s28index/s2801005001.html/ Procedures for capital cases and who can not get the death penalty]
{{CapPun-US}}
[[Category:Lists of executed people|Nebraska]]
[[Category:People from Nebraska|*]]
[[Category:Nebraska law|Capital punishment in Nebraska]]
[[Category:Capital punishment in the United States by state|Nebraska]]