William W. Kirtley
William W. "Bill" Kirtley (December 10, 1897, - September 23, 1944) was an early American anti-death penalty crusader and lead defense attorney to Rainey Bethea, the last man ever publicly executed in the United States.[1] He was also the husband of feminist Louise Gasser Kirtley, the first female Kentucky State Representative (serving two terms, 1962-1966) and first female Kentucky Bar Association President[2] and grandfather of French international arbitration expert William Kirtley, who now chairs his grandfather's Paris-based foundation and teaches at the University of Paris.[3] Arguing that capital punishment was the "most premeditated of murders," Mr. Kirtley was unable to convince Rainey Bethea to testify on his own behalf, and he was ultimately hung before a crowd of 20,000 people in what was described as a carnival-like atmosphere, drawing media attention throughout the United States that was fanned by Mr. Kirtley and his wife.[4] Afterwards, he sought to have Kentucky adopt a law based on a Missouri statute (L.1919, p. 781) banning all public executions. Following his early death, his wife took up the cause, playing a key role in the Kentucky legislature's ban on all public executions still found in statute KRS 431.220. More significantly, many legal scholars and human rights advocates[5] credit the scandal he generated and the execution itself to have led to to the eventual ban of all public executions in America.[6]
References
- ^ http://www.geocities.com/lastpublichang/Chapter13.htm The Last Public Execution in America
- ^ http://www.womeninkentucky.com/site/law.html Louise Gasser Kirtley
- ^ http://international-arbitration-attorney.com
- ^ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/12/after-75-years-last-public-hanging-haunts-city/%20%20%20
- ^ http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/iconic-images-of-human-rights-violations-53-last-public-execution-in-the-us/
- ^ http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010430.execution.html
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