The End of Public Executions in The United States
The Kentucky General Assembly met in biennial sessions. Although the media circus surrounding the Bethea execution embarrassed members of the Kentucky legislature, it was powerless to amend the law until the next session in 1938. Meanwhile, two other men were hanged for rape in Kentucky, John "Pete" Montjoy and Harold Van Venison, but the trial judges of both of those cases ordered that the hangings be conducted privately. Montjoy, age 23, was privately hanged in Covington on December 17, 1937. On January 17, 1938, William R. Attkisson of the Kentucky State Senate's 38th District (Louisville), introduced Senate Bill 69, calling for the repeal the requirement from Section 1137 that death sentences for the crime of rape be conducted by hanging in the county seat where the crime was committed. Representative Charles W. Anderson, Jr., one of the attorneys who assisted Bethea in his post conviction relief motions, promoted the bill in the Kentucky House of Representatives. After both houses approved the bill on March 12, 1938, Governor Chandler signed it into law, and it became effective on May 30, 1938. Chandler later expressed regret at having approved the repeal, claiming, "Our streets are no longer safe." The last person to be legally hanged in Kentucky was Harold Van Venison, a 33-year-old black singer who was privately hanged in Covington on June 3, 1938.
Read more about this topic: Rainey Bethea
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