Talk:Rainey Bethea

Motivation of second set of lawyers
"something they saw as their ethical duty for the indigent defendant"

Reverse the races and I'm sure it would be defined as looking out for one of their own. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.46.245.146 (talk) 08:07, 10 June 2007


 * More than just their ethical duty to defend the indigent, the appeal lawyers were also remedying what is widely regarded as incompetent counsel during his trial. As for "one of their own", clearly we know that's how local *white* lawyers felt, as none of them lifted a finger during the appeal. And what's your motivation, anonymous? Huangdi (talk) 06:35, 3 June 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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Copyright problem removed
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Time frame between sentence and execution
Rainey Bethea spent only nearly two months on death row. It would be interesting if he had spent a year or more on death row, probably because his lawyers filed only one appeal. Cookfoodchef1 (talk) 21:18, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

1906 law
In 1906, a law passed in Kentucky required a prisoner to be executed in exactly a month. Was it like this if the prisoner did appeal? Cookfoodchef1 (talk) 21:19, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

Dubious
Rainey Bethea was not the last person to be publicly executed in the United States. Bethea was publicly hanged on August 14, 1936 in Kentucky; however, two Missouri men (including Roscoe "Red" Jackson) were both publicly hanged on May 21, 1937.

I propose updating the article to reflect this information accurately.

Bethea's article can be updated to be "last public execution in Kentucky" or "last public execution of an African-American".

GuyBanks (talk) 13:22, 25 June 2024 (UTC)


 * I addressed this concern on Roscoe Jackson's talk page. I think it's worth discussing, but in summary, I actually do think that under most people's understanding of what constitutes a public execution, Rainey Bethea's execution was indeed the final public execution in the United States, and those of Missouri figures like Hurt Hardy and Roscoe Jackson were not legitimate public executions. Afddiary (talk) 14:01, 29 June 2024 (UTC)