Joe Henry Hampton
Joe Hampton was one of seven Black men from Martinsville, Virginia, executed in the electric chair in Richmond in February 1951, a group known as the Martinsville Seven. His family and advocates say he and the others were interrogated without a lawyer, that their confessions were coerced under threat of mob violence, and that their trials were unfair. The NAACP argued the trials were unfair and the death sentences racially unequal, but the state appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected those appeals. In 2021 Governor Ralph Northam granted posthumous pardons, recognizing due process failures and a racially biased death sentence without addressing guilt.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. Family members and advocates say the men were interrogated without a lawyer, their confessions were coerced under threat of mob violence, and their trials were unfair; the NAACP argued the trials were unfair and the death sentences racially unequal.
Reported by: family members and advocates; the NAACP (advocates); the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court (court).