Rainey Bethea
Rainey Bethea, a Black man, was held in the Daviess County jail in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1936 and was hanged at sunrise before a large crowd, an execution the state carried out under Kentucky law. Newspaper reports say the confessions attributed to him were obtained without a lawyer, shifted between versions, and that he later denied them, and that he asked to speak again with the priest. Before his death he wrote to his sister in South Carolina asking that his body be buried beside their father, a request the town did not honor, as he was buried in a pauper's grave.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. The confessions attributed to him were reportedly obtained without a lawyer, shifted between accounts, and he later denied them.
Reported by: State of Kentucky (court).