Donald Harding (murderer)
Donald Eugene Harding (March 1, 1949 – April 6, 1992) was convicted of the January 25, 1980, murders of Robert Wise and Martin Concannon. He was executed in 1992 by the state of Arizona by gas chamber. He became the first person to be executed in Arizona since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated.
Harding's execution is also noteworthy in that his asphyxiation in the gas chamber took 11 minutes before death was finally confirmed. The state attorney general, Grant Woods, was a witness at the execution and Harding spent his last moments cursing out Woods and giving him the middle finger. Contrary to media wire reports at the time, Woods claimed not to have become ill witnessing the execution.[1][2]
This provided momentum for the movement to replace the gas chamber with lethal injection, and in November of that year, Arizona voters approved the change in method, although prisoners sentenced to death prior to November 15, 1992, could still choose the gas chamber. Harding thus became the last prisoner executed in Arizona's gas chamber without having lethal injection as an option (Walter LaGrand, who was sentenced to death in 1982, was executed in the gas chamber at his request).
See also
- Capital punishment in Arizona
- Capital punishment in the United States
- List of individuals executed in Arizona
References
Sources
- Inmate 043255 Harding Donald, E. Arizona Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- Arizona Death Penalty History. Arizona Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- Execution Pace Climbs As Appeals Run Course. The New York Times (1992-03-27). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- Arizona Conducts First Execution in 29 Years. The New York Times (1992-04-07). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- Gruesome Death in Gas Chamber Pushes Arizona Toward Injections. The New York Times (1992-04-25). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- Donald Eugene Harding. azcentral.com (2004-06-22). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- Limberis, Chris. Justice Delayed. Tucson Weekly (2004-03-04). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- Methods of Execution. Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- Grant Woods, Reflections on Death in Gas Chamber. Retrieved on 2011-03-29.
