Life after Rainey
In 1936, after the hanging of Bethea, his body was taken to Andrew & Wheatley Funeral Home. He had wanted his body sent to his sister in South Carolina. Instead, he was buried in a pauper's grave at the Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro. Many say Bethea's execution and the coverage it received, led to a banning of public executions in America.
The last person to be executed for hanging in the U.S. was Billy Bailey a convicted murderer, who was put to death in Delaware in 1996. Bailey was one of only three people to be hanged since 1965 and the others were Charles Rodman Campbell and Westley Allan Dodd. In 2003, death row inmates were no longer given the option of choosing hanging over lethal injection. Today hanging is only permitted as a method of execution in Washington and New Hampshire.
The last person to be executed for hanging in the U.S. was Billy Bailey a convicted murderer, who was put to death in Delaware in 1996. Bailey was one of only three people to be hanged since 1965 and the others were Charles Rodman Campbell and Westley Allan Dodd. In 2003, death row inmates were no longer given the option of choosing hanging over lethal injection. Today hanging is only permitted as a method of execution in Washington and New Hampshire.