Donald DeMag
Donald Edward DeMag | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 15, 1922 Burlington, Vermont, U.S. |
| Died | December 8, 1954 (aged 31) Vermont State Prison, Windsor, Vermont, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Execution by electrocution |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | First degree murder Second degree murder |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment (1948 murder) Death (1952 murder) |
Donald Edward DeMag (December 15, 1922 – December 8, 1954) was the last person executed by the U.S. state of Vermont.
Life
[edit]Donald Edward DeMag was born in Burlington, Vermont on December 15, 1922.[1]
Prior to his death sentence, DeMag had been sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of murder, and had escaped and been recaptured while trying to enter Canada.[2]
In 1952, DeMag and fellow-prisoner Francis Blair escaped from the state prison in Windsor by crashing a laundry truck through the front gates.[3]
While on the run, DeMag and Blair had attacked Elizabeth Weatherup and her husband in Springfield, Vermont. DeMag and Blair beat the couple with a lead pipe as they attempted to rob them. Weatherup died of her injuries. Two days after their escape, DeMag and Blair were recaptured.[4] They were tried for first-degree murder, convicted and sentenced to death by electric chair.[5]
Blair and DeMag were both executed by electric chair. Blair was executed on February 8, 1954.[6]
Death and burial
[edit]DeMag was executed at the prison in Windsor on December 8, 1954.[7] He was buried at Holy Family Cemetery in Essex Junction, Vermont.[8][9]
Later death penalty case
[edit]Although DeMag was the last person executed by Vermont, he was not the last person to be sentenced to death by a Vermont court. Lionel Goyet, a soldier who was Absent Without Leave for the fifth time, robbed and killed a farmhand, and was sentenced to death in 1957.[10] His sentence was commuted six months later,[11] and Goyet was conditionally pardoned in 1969.[12] He had no further problems with the law, and died in 1980.[13]
The death penalty was effectively abolished by Vermont in 1965. It remained as a possible sentence if a defendant was convicted of murdering a prison employee or law enforcement officer, but was never used. As a result, the possibility of a death sentence in such cases was removed from state statutes by the Vermont General Assembly in 1987.[14]
See also
[edit]- Capital punishment in Vermont
- List of most recent executions by jurisdiction
- John Stark Bellamy II (2007). Vintage Vermont Villainies: True Tales of Murder & Mystery from the 19th and 20th Centuries (Woodstock, Vt.: Countryman) ISBN 0-88150-749-0
- Daniel Allen Hearn (2008). Legal Executions in New England: A comprehensive reference, 1623–1960 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland) ISBN 0-7864-3248-9
- Wilson Ring, "Death penalty comes full circle in Vt.", Rutland Herald, 2005-05-01
References
[edit]- ^ Vermont Birth Records, 1909-2008, entry for Donald Edward DeMag, retrieved February 4, 2014
- ^ Associated Press, Troy Record, Escaped Vermont Lifer Seized at Border, August 31, 1950
- ^ Associated Press, Portsmouth Herald, Posse and Bloodhounds Comb Woods for Fugitives, July 31, 1952
- ^ Associated Press, Atchison Daily Globe, Capture two Convicts in Vermont Manhunt, August 3, 1952
- ^ Associated Press, Nashua Telegraph, Will Appeal DeMag Murder Conviction, December 21, 1953
- ^ United Press International, Stars and Stripes, Vermont Executes Killer of Woman, February 11, 1954
- ^ Associated Press, Bridgeport Telegram, Murderer Dies in Vermont Electric Chair, December 9, 1954
- ^ Vermont Death Records, 1909-2008, entry for Donald Edward Demag, retrieved February 4, 2014
- ^ Demag buried in Essex Jct, December 11, 1954
- ^ Associated Press, Newport Daily News, To Die in Chair, May 8, 1957
- ^ North Adams Transcript, Goyet's Death Term Commuted to Life, November 4, 1957
- ^ United Press International, Bennington Banner, Christmas Pardons for Three, December 16, 1969
- ^ Wilson Ring, Associated Press, Boston Globe, 50 Years Later, Vt. Revisits Executions, May 1, 2005
- ^ ProCon.org, State Death penalty Laws, retrieved February 4, 2014
| Preceded by Francis Blair |
Executions carried out in Vermont | Succeeded by none |
- 1922 births
- 1954 deaths
- People from Burlington, Vermont
- 20th-century executions by Vermont
- American escapees
- American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
- American people executed for murder
- 20th-century executions of American people
- People convicted of murder by Vermont
- Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Vermont
- People executed by Vermont by electric chair
- Escapees from American detention