Death penalty in Nebraska

1903 – Gottlieb Neigenfind is first person executed by the state, by hanging. Before that, counties carried out executions.

 

1913 – Nebraska begins using the electric chair for executions.

 

1972 – U.S. Supreme Court effectively suspends capital punishment over sentencing guidelines.

 

1976 – U.S. Supreme Court upholds death penalty sentencing reforms undertaken by states. 

 

1979 – Nebraska Legislature votes to repeal death penalty; Gov. Charles Thone vetoes the bill.

 

1994 – Harold Lamont Otey is first person executed in Nebraska since Charles Starkweather in 1959; two other men are executed, in 1996 and 1997.

 

2008 – Nebraska Supreme Court rules electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment.

 

2009 – Legislature makes lethal injection the state’s new method of execution.

 

2015 – Legislature bans the death penalty over Gov. Pete Ricketts’ veto.

 

2016 – Nebraska voters reinstate the death penalty in November election.

 

2018 – Carey Dean Moore faces an Aug. 14 execution by lethal injection.