Billy Bailey

The gallows in Delaware were dismantled in 2003, because in that year, none of its death row inmates remained eligible to choose hanging over lethal injection.

Billy Bailey (January 1947 – January 25, 1996) was a convicted murderer who was hanged in Delaware in 1996. He became the third person to be hanged in the United States since 1965 (the previous two were Charles Rodman Campbell and Westley Allan Dodd, both in Washington), and the first person hanged in Delaware in 50 years. As of 2022, he remains the last person to be executed by hanging in the United States.

His final appeals having failed, Bailey was executed on January 25, 1996.

The wooden gallows were built on the grounds of the Delaware Correctional Center at Smyrna in 1986, prior to a January 9, 1987, execution date for Bailey which was where he was staying. The structure required renovation and strengthening before Bailey could be executed on it. The platform housing the trap door was 15 feet (4.6 m) from the ground and accessed by 23 steps.

Although the method of execution in Delaware had been changed to lethal injection in 1986, he had the legal option of choosing to be hanged instead. Bailey refused to accept lethal injection, telling a visitor, "I'm not going to let them put me to sleep."

Bailey was found guilty of the murders in 1980. After his conviction, the jury found that his crimes "were outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible, or inhuman", and recommended a death sentence. Bailey was sentenced to be hanged by his neck until dead.

In 1979, after being convicted of forgery, Bailey was assigned to the Plummer House, a work release facility in Wilmington, Delaware, but soon escaped. He later appeared at the home of his foster sister, Sue Ann Coker, in Cheswold, Delaware, saying he was upset and was not going back to the Plummer House.