Oregon's Last Executioner Now Opposes The Death Penalty

In New York Times op-ed, Semon Thompson describes his conversion.

By Nigel Jaquiss

The last man in Oregon to oversee an execution—two executions, actually—now opposes the death penalty.

"As superintendent of the Oregon State Penitentiary, I planned and carried out that state's only two executions in the last 54 years," writes Semon Frank Thompson, in an op-ed in the New York Times. "I used to support the death penalty. I don't anymore."

The last execution in Oregon took place on May 15, 1997, when Henry Charles Moore was given a lethal injection.

Gov. John Kitzhaber refused death-row inmate Gary Haugen's plea to be executed in 2011. Kitzhaber then declared a moratorium on executions, which remains in effect under Gov. Kate Brown.

There are currently 34 inmates on Oregon's death row. The longest serving is Randy Guzek, who was sentenced March 21, 1988.

Thompson's op-ed is excerpted from Death: An Oral History, a soon-to-be published book edited by former WW music editor Casey Jarman.

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