Massachusetts Death Penalty Almanac
Last updated April 4, 2004

View events sorted by day of year.
Date Event
September (30?), 1630 First recorded execution in Massachusetts: John Billington, who had arrived on the Mayflower, hanged at Plymouth for the murder of John Newcomen.
November 4, 1646 Massachusetts Bay Colony passes a law making it a capital offense to deny the divine origin of the Bible.
October 27, 1659 William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephenson are hanged on Boston Common for heresy (profession of Quakerism) and violation of banishment.
Read the testimony of Marmaduke Stevenson.
June 1, 1660 Mary Dyer hanged on Boston Common for heresy (profession of Quakerism) and violation of banishment.
Read about Mary Dyer.
March 14 (24?), 1661 William Leddra hanged on Boston Common for heresy (profession of Quakerism) and violation of banishment.
Read about William Leddra.
June 10, 1692 Bridget Bishop hanged in Salem Village for witchcraft.
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
July 19, 1692 Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Sarah Good, and Rebecca Nurse hanged in Salem Village for witchcraft.
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
August 19, 1692 George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs, John Proctor, and John Willard hanged in Salem Village for witchcraft.
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
September 19, 1692 Giles Corey pressed to death in Salem Village for witchraft.
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
September 22, 1692 Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, and Mary Parker hanged in Salem Village for witchraft.
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
January 1, 1900 Electric chair installed at the State Prison, Charlestown.
December 17, 1901 First execution by electrocution in Massachusetts, of Luigi Storti, for murder.
August 23, 1927 Execution by electrocution of Nicola Sacco, Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Celestino Madeiros
May 9, 1947 The last judicial executions in Massachusetts: Phillip Bellino and Edward Gertson, both convicted of murdering Robert William, electrocuted at Charlestown State Prison.
June 29, 1972 US Supreme Court rules on Furman v. Georgia, finding that the death penalty is applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Death sentences across the country are overturned.
July 2, 1976 US Supreme Court rules on Gregg v. Georgia, which allows executions to resume in the United States.
November 2, 1982 Constitutional amendment approved by the voters of the Commonwealth, Art. 116, which states that "no provision of the Constitution. . . shall be construed as prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty."
October 18, 1984 Commonwealth v. Colon-Cruz, 393 Mass. 150 The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that, despite Article 116, the state's revised death penalty law is unconstitutional because it encourages defendants in murder cases to plead guilty rather than face a jury trial, in order to avoid the possibility of the death sentence. This conflicts with the right against self-incrimination and the right to trial by jury.
November 6, 1997 Massachusetts House fails on a 80-80 tie vote to reinstate the death penalty.
March 29, 1999 The Massachusetts House fails on a 80-73 vote to reinstate the death penalty.
March 12, 2001 The Massachusetts House fails on a 94-60 vote to reinstate the death penalty.
March 26, 2001 At the federal Court House in Springfield, U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor imposes four consecutive life sentences on Kristen Gilbert after the jury deadlocked on whether to sentence her to death. Gilbert was convicted of murdering Henry Hudon, Kenneth Cutting, Edward Skwira, and Stanley Jagodowski and assaulting two others at the VA Medical Center in Northampton. This was the first capital trial in Massachusetts for decades and the first federal capital trial ever in Massachusetts.
January 29, 2004 Gary Lee Sampson was sentenced to death in US District Court in Boston, for the carjacking and murder of Philip McCloskey and Jonathan Rizzo. This was the first death sentence imposed in Massachusetts in over three decades and the first federal death sentence in the Commonwealth since the 19th century.