Several executions are scheduled to take place in the U.S. in 2024, starting with what could be the nation's first execution using nitrogen gas.
Twenty-four inmates were put to death in the U.S. this year. Texas carried out the most executions—eight—followed by Florida with six and Oklahoma and Missouri with four each. Alabama carried out two executions, one in July and another in November, following a series of flawed lethal injections in 2022.
The new year could see the U.S. take a grim new step with executions when Alabama tries to put an inmate to death using nitrogen gas, a method that experts have warned could go horribly wrong.
Although several executions are scheduled in Ohio for 2024, the state's Republican governor, Mike DeWine, has repeatedly postponed executions in recent years, citing an ongoing inability to obtain lethal injection drugs. Ohio's last execution took place in July 2018.
Here are all the inmates on the execution schedule in 2024, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Executions that have been rescheduled or are set to be rescheduled at a later date have been omitted from this list.
Kenneth Eugene Smith
Alabama is scheduled to execute Smith on January 25 using nitrogen gas. Nitrogen hypoxia is authorized as an execution method in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma, but it has never been used to put an inmate to death. Smith was one of two men convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire death of Elizabeth Sennett.
James Chandler Ryder
Oklahoma's first scheduled execution in 2024 is set for February 1. James Ryder was sentenced to death for the 1999 killing of Daisy Hallum, 70, and to life without parole for killing her son, Sam Hallum, 38, in Pittsburg County.
Ivan Abner Cantu
Ivan Cantu was sent to death row in 2001 for the fatal shooting of James Mosqueda, his 27-year-old cousin, and his cousin's girlfriend, Amy Kitchen, 22, during a November 2000 robbery at their Dallas home. He has long claimed he is innocent.
Michael DeWayne Smith
Smith is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma on April 4 for the 2002 murders of Janet Moore and Sarath "Babu" Pulluru in Oklahoma City.
Wade Greely Lay
Lay is scheduled to be put to death in Oklahoma on June 6. He was convicted in the 2004 death of a security guard, Kenny Anderson, during an armed bank robbery in Tulsa. Lay has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Timothy Hoffner
Hoffner is scheduled for execution in Ohio on June 18. He was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Christopher Hammer, 22.
John David Stumpf
Stumpf's execution in Ohio is scheduled for June 18. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the shooting death of Mary Jane Stoudt during a robbery at her home in New Concord in 1984. Her husband, Norman Stout, an Air Force veteran, was shot in the head and was permanently disabled.
Lawrence Landrum
Landrum's execution is scheduled to take place in Ohio on October 15. He was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of Harold White Sr.
Warren Keith Henness
Henness is scheduled for execution on December 17 in Ohio. He was convicted of the 1992 slaying of Richard Myers in Columbus. Prosecutors said Henness kidnapped Myers and bound and shot him before stealing his credit cards, checks and car.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
