US Executions in 2020

Numbering is from the first post-Furman execution, that of Gary Gilmore in Utah on January 17, 1977.

17 men were put to death during 2020, down from 22 men 2019.

All executions are carried out for 1st degree murder and are by lethal injection unless otherwise indicated after the prisoner’s name.

(E = electrocution, G = lethal gas, H = hanging, S = shooting)
Prisoner details (f) = female, (v) = volunteered for execution.

No.DateStateNameCrime/victims
151301/15TexasJohn Gardner1 – wife
151401/29GeorgiaDonnie Cleveland Lance2 – wife and her lover
151502/06TexasAbel Ochoa5 – wife, 2 children and 2 family members
151602/21TennesseeNicholas Todd Sutton (E)1 – fellow inmate
151703/05AlabamaNathaniel Woods3 – police officers
151805/19MissouriWalter Barton1 – rape murder
151907/08TexasBilly Joe Wardlow1 – robbery murder
152007/14FederalDaniel Lewis Lee3 – robbery murders
152107/16FederalWesley Ira Purkey1 – rape murder
152207/17FederalDustin Lee Honken5 – including 2 children – drug related
152308/26FederalLezmond Mitchell2 – grandmother and 9 yr. old granddaughter
152408/28FederalKeith Dwayne Nelson1 – rape murder of child
152509/22FederalWilliam Emmett LeCroy1 – rape murder
152609/24FederalChristopher Andre Vialva2 – robbery murders
152711/19FederalOrlando Hall1 – rape murder
152812/10FederalBrandon Bernard2 – robbery murders
152912/11FederalAlfred Bourgeois1 – his two year old daughter

Support the Archive

If you have found this article useful and would like to help preserve and maintain this historical archive, please consider supporting the site.