Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Oregon, as provided by the Constitution of Oregon.
In November 2011, Governor John Kitzhaber announced a moratorium on executions in Oregon, canceling a planned execution and ordering a review of the death penalty system in the state. Kitzhaber's successor, Governor Kate Brown, affirmed her commitment to the moratorium, and furthermore commuted all death sentences in December 2022, emptying the state's death row;
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial).
The governor of Oregon has sole authority over clemency, including capital cases.
Executions are carried out by lethal injection in Oregon.
The men's death row is located, and executions are carried out, at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. Women on death row are held at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility until shortly before their execution.
Early history
The first death sentence carried out under the territorial government, apart from the hanging of the 5 Cayuse in 1850, came on April 18, 1851, when William Kendall was hanged in Salem. Kendall's sentence was handed down by Judge William Strong of the Oregon Supreme Court. However, the death penalty was restored in 1920 with 56% of voters favoring its use. From 1864 to 1931, executions were carried out by hanging. The state executed seventeen men in this manner, including Robert E. Lee Folkes. The last of these gas-inhalation executions took place on 20 August 1962, with the execution of Leroy McGahuey.
Reinstatement
Voters reenacted the death penalty in the general election of 1978, by statute; Measure 8 required the death penalty in certain murder cases. Measure 8 was overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court in 1981, on the grounds that it denied defendants the right to be tried by a jury of their peers.
Between 1904 and 1994, 115 people were sentenced to death in Oregon, and 58 of those were executed.
In response to Governor Kitzhaber 2011 moratorium, death row inmate Gary Haugen sued the Governor, claiming he had the right to be executed, and seeking the Court to order Kitzhaber to carry out the execution. In June 2013, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled in the case Haugen v. Kitzhaber that Haugen had no legal right to be executed, and that Kitzhaber's reprieve of Haugen's execution did not require Haugen's agreement to be effective.
On December 13, 2022, Governor Kate Brown announced that she would commute the sentences of all 17 death row inmates, effective December 14, 2022. She also directed the Oregon Department of Corrections to dismantle Oregon's lethal injection death chamber. Governor Brown's successor, Tina Kotek, stated her own personal opposition to the death penalty and her intention to continue the moratorium established by her predecessors.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" | Race
! scope="col" | Age
! scope="col" | Sex
! scope="col" data-sort-type="date" | Date of execution
! scope="col" | Method
!County
! scope="col" | Victim(s)
! scope="col" | Governor
|-
! scope="row" | 1
|
| White
| 56
| M
| September 6, 1996
| rowspan="2"|Lethal injection
|Marion
| Anthony Barker, William Marks, and William Davis
| rowspan="2"|John Kitzhaber
|-
! scope="row" | 2
|
| White
| 56
| M
| May 16, 1997
|Wasco
| Thomas Lauri and Barbara Cunningham
|}
Capital crimes
Aggravated murder is the only crime punishable by death in Oregon.