Harold McQueen, Jr.

Who was Harold McQueen, Jr.?

Harold McQueen, Jr. was the first criminal executed by the State of Kentucky after the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States in 1976. McQueen was sentenced to death for shooting and killing an unarmed store clerk, Rebecca O'Hearn, while robbing the store in which she worked in Richmond on January 17, 1981.

On July 1, 1997, at 12:07 a.m., McQueen was executed by electrocution at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville. In addition to being the first person executed in Kentucky since 1962, McQueen, as of July 2014, is also the last person executed in the state's electric chair and is the only person since 1976 executed in Kentucky involuntarily. McQueen's last words, spoken to his spiritual adviser, were "I love you, Father". During his execution, smoke was seen rising from the electrodes placed on his right ankle. He was declared dead eight minutes after the execution had begun.