Andriza Mircovich

Who is Andriza Mircovich?

Andriza Mircovich was an Austro-Hungarian national of Montenegrin descent. He was the only prisoner ever to be executed by shooting in the state of Nevada. He had been sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of John Gregovich in Tonopah, Nevada. Mircovich felt that he was owed more money from Gregovich's administration of his late cousin's estate and resorted to settling the matter by stabbing Gregovich to death.

A 1911 statute was passed by the Nevada Legislature that allowed a death row inmate to opt to die by shooting or hanging; that statute was overturned in 1921. Mircovich was insistent on shooting, claiming that hanging often took too long. After the Nevada State Prison warden, George W. Cowing, was unable to find five men to form a firing squad, a shooting machine was requisitioned and built to carry out the execution.