Currently on Death Row

Carey Dean Moore: Sentenced for the murder of two Omaha cabdrivers during robberies in 1979. Moore is White.

Michael Ryan: Sentenced for the brutal torture and murder of three members of his religious cult on a farm outside of Rulo, Nebraska in 1985. Ryan is White.

John Lotter: Sentenced for the 1993 murders of three people to cover up a rape in December 1993. His accomplice Nissen received a life-sentence in return for his testimony against Lotter. Lotter is White.

Raymond Mata Jr.: Sentenced in 2000 for killing and dismembering his girlfriend's young son, in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Mata is Hispanic.

Arthur Lee Gales Jr.: Sentenced for killing his girlfriend’s two children and attempted first-degree murder of his girlfriend in 2000. Gales is Black.

Jeffrey Hessler: Sentenced for raping and killing a 15-year-old newspaper delivery girl in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Hessler is White.

Jose Sandoval: Sentenced for the murder of 5 people during a bank robbery in Norfolk, Nebraska, in 2002. Sandoval is Hispanic.

Jorge Galindo: Sentenced for the murder of 5 people during a bank robbery in Norfolk, Nebraska, in 2002. Galindo is Hispanic.

Erick Vela: Sentenced for the murder of 5 people during a bank robbery in Norfolk, Nebraska, in 2002. Vela is Hispanic.

Roy Ellis: Sentenced for the 2005 abduction and murder of 12-year-old Amber Harris in Omaha, Nebraska. Ellis is Black.

Marco E. Torres, Jr.: Sentenced for the murders of two Grand Island men in 2007. Torres is Hispanic.

Formerly on Nebraska's Death Row*

In 1999 Jerry Simpson and Clarence Victor were taken off of Nebraska's death row because their IQs were less than 70 and it is now unconstitutional to execute people with developmental disabilities.

In 2000 the Nebraska Supreme Court vacated the death sentence of Randy Reeves because the court sentenced him with improper procedures. Reeves had been sentenced to death for the drug induced murder of Janet Mesner and Victoria Lamm in Lincoln in 1980. Reeves was sentenced to two life terms instead. Reeves is Native American.

In 2001 Jeremy Sheets was released after prosecutors decided not to retry his case. Sheets was sentenced to death for the 1992 kidnapping and murder of a young woman in Omaha. The Nebraska Supreme Court overturned Sheets' conviction because there was no evidence against him other than a taped confession by another man, Adam Barnett, who said he committed the crime with Sheets. Barnett hung himself before Sheets’ trial, so Sheets was unable to confront his accuser and thus the tape could not be used against him. Sheets was White.

In 2001 Roger Bjorklund was found unresponsive in his cell and was later pronounced dead at a Lincoln hospital. Bjorklund was sentenced to death for the murder of a young Lincoln woman in 1992. Bjorklund was White.

In 2001 Peter Hochstein and Michael Anderson were taken off death row and given life in prison because their sentencing judicial panels could not reach a unanimous decision to impose the death sentence. Anderson and Hochstein were sentenced to death for the 1975 murder-for-hire of an Omaha businessman. Hochstein and Anderson were White.

In 2006 Charles Jess Palmer died of natural causes on death row. Palmer was sentenced to death for the 1979 murder and robbery of a businessman in Grand Island. Palmer was White.

In 2011 David Dunster died of natural causes on death row. Dunster was sentenced for killing his cell mate in 1997 while serving a sentence in Nebraska for two previous killings; a 1972 rape and murder of an Oregon woman and the 1979 killing of a fellow cell mate. Dunster was White.

* This list includes only those removed from death row since 1999.

Execution History

• Executions were staved off until Harold Lamont "Wili" Otey was executed in 1994.
• John Joubert was executed in 1996.
• Robert Williams was executed December 2, 1997.