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Reply to "death penalty"

The last public execution in the United States was in 1936. Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky after being convicted of the rape and murder of a 70 year old woman. It was also the country's first hanging conducted by a woman. 20,000 people attended along with reporters from Chicago and New York. Reporters wrote that the hanging was a "carnival in Owensboro." It is said that this execution and the extensive coverage led to the banning of public executions in the United States.

The next known "public" execution wasn't totally open. It was Timothy McVeigh convicted of the Oklahoma City bombing. The lethal injection was captured on closed circuit television on June 11, 2001 so the relatives of the victims could witness his death. He didn't give any final words although he released a letter as his final statement. In the letter he said he thought the bloodshed was unfortunate, but he was not sorry about the bombing which he saw as a "legit tactic" in his solitary war against the federal government.

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