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Vermont

Governor Phil Scott, Republican

Quick Facts

Death Penalty Status

Death Row Population

Executions since 1976

Executions before 1976

Clemencies

Exonerations

State-by-State Issues in Context

Famous Cases

Robert Drew, a Vermont native, was executed in Texas on August 2, 1994. Drew maintained his innocence, but was denied a hearing on new evidence. Prominent Vermonters, including then-Governor Howard Dean, Representative Bernard Sanders, and Catholic Bishop Kenneth Angell asked Texas Governor Ann Richards for clemency for Drew.

Notable Exonerations

In 1819, two brothers in Manchester were sentenced to death for the alleged murder of their brother-in-law. The brothers were spared at the last moment, however, when the supposed “dead” man showed up in town.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

In 1838, Vermont’s legislature defeated an abolition bill by only three votes. If the bill had passed, it would have made Vermont the first state to abolish the death penalty.

The Vermont legislature took no action to reintroduce capital punishment after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all existing death-penalty laws in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, ending the death penalty in the state.