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The military of the United States executed 160 soldiers and other members of the armed forces between 1942 and 1961 (these figures do not include German prisoners of war, war criminals, spies, and saboteurs executed by U.S. military authorities between 1942 and 1951). There have been no military executions since 1961 although the death penalty is still a possible punishment for several crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Of these executions, 157 were carried out by the United States Army. The United States Air Force conducted the three remaining executions, one in 1950 and two in 1954. The U.S. Navy has not executed anyone since 1849. The United States Army had previously executed a total of 36 soldiers during the First World War, all taking place by hanging between 5 November 1917 and 20 June 1919. Eleven of these hangings were performed in France while the remaining 25 were carried out in continental United States.
Contents
- Reintroduction of the military death penalty
- Punishable crimes
- Sentencing and execution
- Executions during World War II and postwar
- Plot E
- Executions of German POWs during World War II
- Executions by the United States Air Force
- Executions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice
- Individuals currently awaiting execution under the UCMJ
- Executions by the United States Navy
- References
Of the total, 106 were executed for murder (including 21 involving rape), 53 for rape and one (Eddie Slovik) for desertion.
Reintroduction of the military death penalty
The U.S. Armed Forces Court of Appeals ruled in 1983 that the military death penalty was unconstitutional. The military death penalty was restored by an executive order of President Ronald Reagan in 1984, with new standards intended to rectify the Armed Forces Court of Appeals' objections.
On 28 July 2008, President George W. Bush approved the execution of Former United States Army Private Ronald A. Gray, who had been convicted in April 1988 of multiple murders and rapes. A month later, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren set an execution date of 10 December 2008 and ordered that Gray be put to death by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute. The military publicly released Gray's execution date on 20 November 2008. On 26 November, however, Gray was granted a stay of execution by federal judge Rogers. In December2016, a Kansas federal judge lifted Gray's stay, moving Gray one step closer to becoming the US military's first death sentence carried out in more than a half-century.
Punishable crimes
Currently, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 14 offenses are punishable by death. Under the following sections of the UCMJ, the death penalty can be imposed at any time:
Four provisions of the UCMJ carry a death sentence only if the crime is committed during times of war:
Sentencing and execution
Capital cases are tried in courts-martial before a panel of at least twelve military members. If the defendant is an enlisted servicemember, they may opt for at least one third of the panel to also be of enlisted rank. All members of the panel must outrank the accused. The defendant cannot plead guilty to the charges. The panel must be unanimous in conviction, that the government has proven necessary aggravating factors, that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors, and that death is the only sentence applicable. All death sentences are automatically appealed first to the Court of Criminal Appeals for the military service concerned, then to the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. The sentence must be personally confirmed by the President of the United States.
Military executions would be conducted under regulations issued on 17 January 2006, and would ordinarily take place at the Special Housing Unit of the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, although alternative locations are possible (such as the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, where federal civilian death row inmates are housed and executed). Of five convicted servicemen awaiting execution, four are confined at the Special Housing Unit and one at Camp Lejeune, all of whom have been convicted of premeditated murder or felony murder.
Until 1961, the last military execution to date, hanging was the sole and official method. Later, the military introduced the electric chair, which was never used. Currently, lethal injection is the sole method.
Executions during World War II and postwar
The United States Army carried out 141 executions over a three-year period from 1942 to 1945, and a further six executions were conducted during the postwar period, for a known total of 147.
70 of these 141 wartime executions were carried out in the European Theatre, 27 in the Mediterranean Theatre, 21 in the Southwest Pacific Area, 19 in the continental United States, two in Hawaii, one in Guadalcanal and one in India; of the six postwar executions, one took place in Hawaii, one in Japan, two in France and two in the Philippines. An execution was also carried out by the United States Air Force in Japan in 1950.
All executions carried out by the Army during 1942 to 1948 were performed under the authority of the Articles of War of June 4, 1920, an Act of Congress which governed military justice between 1920 and 1948.
With the exception of Eddie Slovik, who was shot for desertion, all of these soldiers were executed for murder and/or rape. It should be noted that several of the soldiers listed as convicted and executed for murder and/or rape had also been convicted on other charges, including those of a military nature such as desertion and mutiny and plus lesser crimes that would not have been considered capital unless combined with more serious offenses which carried the death penalty. Sources for list in References section.
** – Remains transferred to Plot E in 1949. **E – Remains exhumed from Plot E and returned to the United States. **DD – Died during disturbance after being sentenced to life for murder. **DC – Died in custody after being sentenced to five years for sodomy of a 13-year boy in Sicily.Plot E
The US Army executed several servicemen following General Courts Martial (GCM) for murder or rape, or both crimes, in the European Theatre of Operations during the Second World War. The remains of these servicemen were originally buried near the site of their executions, which took place in countries as far apart as England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Algeria. In 1949 the remains of these men and a few others were re-interred in Plot E, a private section specifically built to hold what the Graves Registration referred to as "the dishonorable dead", since (per standard practice) all had been Dishonorably Discharged from the US Army just prior to their executions.
Plot "E" is detached from the main four cemetery plots for the honored dead of World War I at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial. It is located across the road and deliberately hidden from view, inside a 100 x 50 feet oval-shaped clearing surrounded by hedges and hidden in thick forest. Officially, Plot E does not exist: it is not mentioned on the ABMC website or in any guide pamphlets or maps. The plot is accessible only through the back door of the superintendent's office. Access is difficult and visitors are not encouraged, though the section is maintained by cemetery caretakers who periodically mow the lawn area and trim the hedges. One cemetery employee described Plot E as "a house of shame" and "a perfect anti-memorial". Today, Plot E contains nothing but 96 flat stone markers (arranged in four rows) and a single small granite cross. The white grave markers are the size of index cards and have nothing on them except sequential grave numbers engraved in black. Two remains were later disinterred and allowed to return to United States.
No US flag is permitted to fly over the section, and the numbered graves literally lie with their backs turned to the main cemetery on the other side of the road. Very few of the individuals buried in Plot E had not been convicted of rape or murder. Willie Hall, Joseph J. Mahoney and William N. Lucas are three other non-murders buried in Plot E. One deserter was Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion on 31 January 1945. In 1987 President Ronald Reagan gave permission for Slovik's remains to be exhumed and returned to the United States for reburial. Alex F. Miranda was exhumed and his remains were returned to the United States in 1990.
Executions of German POWs during World War II
In 1945, the United States Army executed fourteen German prisoners of war by hanging at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. These POWs, members of the German Armed services, had been convicted by general court-martial for the murders of fellow Germans believed by their fellow inmates to be collaborating as confidential informants with the United States military authorities. These hangings at the United States Disciplinary Barracks were carried out in a warehouse elevator shaft which had been converted into a temporary gallows. The fourteen Germans were subsequently buried in the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery.
Executions by the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force has executed a total of three airmen by hanging between 1950 and 1954. The first execution, that of Robert E. Keller, was conducted under the authority of the 1920 Articles of War; those of Burns and Dennis, Jr. were carried out under a short-lived revised version of the Articles of War popularly known as the Elston Act of 1948.
Executions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice
A total of ten military executions have been carried out by the United States Army under the provisions of the original Uniform Code of Military Justice of 5 May 1950. The first four of these executions, those of Bernard J. O'Brien, Chastine Beverly, Louis M. Suttles and James L. Riggins, were carried out by military officials at the Kansas State Penitentiary near Lansing, Kansas. The remaining six executions took place in the boiler room of the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Hanging was the method employed in these ten executions.
Individuals currently awaiting execution under the UCMJ
Five individuals are currently awaiting execution under the UCMJ. All executions, if carried out, will be by lethal injection.
Executions by the United States Navy
The United States Navy has executed approximately seventeen sailors and Marines for various offenses, of which the most famous were several crew members of the USS Somers who were summarily hanged for allegedly conspiring to mutiny. No member of the Navy has been executed since 1849. The United States Navy also executed fourteen Japanese nationals by hanging on charges of war crimes on Guam after the Second World War.