<Tr> <Th> Criminal status </Th> <Td> Executed </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Conviction (s) </Th> <Td> Rape </Td> </Tr> <P> Rainey Bethea (c. 1909--August 14, 1936) was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States . Bethea, who confessed to the rape and murder of a 70 - year - old woman named Lischia Edwards, was convicted of her rape and publicly hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky . Mistakes in performing the hanging and the surrounding media circus contributed to the end of public executions in the United States . </P> <P> Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Bethea was an African American orphaned after the death of his mother in 1919 and his father in 1926 . Little is known of his time before he arrived in Owensboro in 1933 . He worked for the Rutherford family and lived in their basement for about a year . Bethea then moved to a cabin behind the house of Emmett Wells . He worked as a laborer and rented a room from Mrs. Charles Brown . He also attended a Baptist church . </P>

Who was the last person publicly executed in the us