List of Women on Death Row in the United States

Fewer than 50 women are currently under a sentence of death in the United States, held across 14 states. The women on death row in the United States represent roughly 2% of the total death row population, and California and Texas account for more than half of them. Most have been litigating their sentences for well over a decade, and in several states no executions are being carried out at all.

California Holds the Largest Group

California has 20 women under a sentence of death, more than any other state. They are housed at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. All of them have been moved out of segregated condemned housing and into the general population under the state’s Condemned Inmate Transfer Program.1California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program Their death sentences remain in place; only the housing has changed.

The women include Maria del Rosio “Rosie” Alfaro, condemned for the 1990 murder of a nine-year-old girl during a burglary in Anaheim, and Cynthia Coffman, convicted for a 1986 kidnapping and murder committed during a string of violent crimes. Others include Cherie Rhoades, Maureen McDermott, Kerry Dalton, Skylar Sophia DeLeon, and Michelle Michaud, along with more than a dozen others whose cases span the 1980s through the 2010s.2Death Penalty Information Center. Women Sandi Dawn Nieves, originally sentenced to death for a 1998 arson that killed her four daughters, is no longer on death row. The California Supreme Court reversed her death sentence over trial court misconduct, though her conviction for the killings was upheld.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-09-19 in March 2019, imposing a moratorium on executions statewide and ordering the closure of the death chamber at San Quentin.3Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Executive Order N-09-19 The moratorium grants a reprieve to every death-sentenced person in the state but does not commute any sentence. If a future governor lifts it, these sentences could be carried out again.

Texas Holds Seven Women

Texas houses seven women on death row at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, formerly known as the Mountain View Unit.4Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Death Row Information

  • Linda Carty, a British national convicted for the 2001 kidnapping and murder of a young mother in a scheme to steal her newborn baby. Her case has drawn international attention and consular rights challenges.
  • Melissa Lucio, sentenced for the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter. A district judge recommended overturning her conviction in 2024 based on withheld evidence, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is still weighing that recommendation. If freed, she would be the first woman exonerated from Texas death row.
  • Darlie Routier, convicted for the 1996 stabbing death of her five-year-old son. The evidence used at trial has been the subject of sustained public debate.
  • Kimberly Cargill, sentenced after the 2010 murder of a woman scheduled to testify against her in a child custody proceeding.
  • Erica Sheppard, convicted for a 1993 robbery-murder.
  • Taylor Parker, sentenced for a 2020 murder committed to kidnap an unborn child.
  • Brittany Holberg, originally sentenced for a 1997 robbery-murder. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated her conviction after 27 years on death row and remanded the case, leaving her legal status in flux.

Florida Holds a Small and Shrinking Group

Florida’s female death row population has fallen in recent years. Tina Brown, convicted for a 2010 murder involving kidnapping and burning, is held at the Lowell Annex in Ocala. The Death Penalty Information Center also lists Jenna Rodgers, recently sentenced in Santa Rosa County.2Death Penalty Information Center. Women Tiffany Cole, sentenced for her role in the 2005 kidnapping and live burial of an elderly couple, and Margaret Allen, convicted for the kidnapping and murder of a woman over a financial dispute, were previously among Florida’s death-sentenced women but no longer appear on current rosters.

Florida changed its capital sentencing rules in 2023, moving opposite the national trend. After briefly requiring a unanimous jury recommendation under the state supreme court’s 2016 ruling in Hurst v. State, the legislature passed a law allowing a death recommendation with as few as 8 of 12 jurors.5Death Penalty Information Center. Florida Legislature Rescinds Unanimous-Jury Requirement in Death Sentencing That is the lowest threshold in the country.

Alabama Holds Five

Alabama has five women on death row, the most outside California and Texas: Christie Michelle Scott, Patricia Blackmon, Tierra Capri Gobble, Heather Keaton, and Lisa Graham.2Death Penalty Information Center. Women The state authorizes three execution methods: lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia, and electrocution.6Death Penalty Information Center. Authorized Methods by State

Arizona, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina

Arizona holds three women: Sammantha Allen, convicted for the 2011 murder of her ten-year-old cousin Ame Deal; Wendi Andriano; and Shawna Forde. Ohio has three women under a death sentence: Donna Roberts, Taci Vixen, and Victoria Drain.

Georgia’s sole female death row inmate is Tiffany Moss, sentenced after the starvation death of her stepdaughter. Moss represented herself at trial and was denied a motion for a new trial in 2024.

North Carolina has two women on death row, Blanche T. Moore and Carlette Parker. Patricia Jennings, previously listed on North Carolina’s death row for the 1989 murder of her husband, was resentenced to life in prison after a judge determined her original attorneys had failed to present mitigating evidence.2Death Penalty Information Center. Women

States With One Woman on Death Row

Seven states each hold a single woman under a capital sentence:

  • Mississippi: Lisa Jo Chamberlin, convicted for a 2004 double murder, has spent more than a decade as the only woman on the state’s death row.
  • Oklahoma: Brenda Andrew, whose conviction for the 2001 shooting death of her husband was upheld by the Tenth Circuit.
  • Tennessee: Christa Pike, convicted for the 1995 torture and murder of a fellow Job Corps student.
  • Idaho: Robin Row.
  • Kentucky: Virginia Caudill.
  • Louisiana: Antoinette Frank.2Death Penalty Information Center. Women

Why Most of These Women Remain on Death Row for Decades

More than half of all prisoners currently under a death sentence have been on death row for over 18 years.7Death Penalty Information Center. Time on Death Row Several of the women named above were sentenced in the late 1980s or early 1990s and are still litigating.

After a capital conviction, the sentence receives a mandatory direct appeal to the state’s highest criminal court. If that fails, state post-conviction motions can challenge things like ineffective trial counsel or newly discovered evidence. Only after those state remedies are exhausted can the defendant seek federal habeas corpus review. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 sharply limits that federal review, requiring federal courts to defer to state court rulings unless they unreasonably applied established law.8Legal Information Institute. AEDPA The combined process routinely stretches over a decade and often two.

Two Supreme Court rulings also apply at the back end. Atkins v. Virginia (2002) bars executing a person with an intellectual disability under the Eighth Amendment, with states generally using an IQ threshold around 70 as an initial screen. Ford v. Wainwright bars executing someone who is not mentally competent, and Panetti v. Quarterman later clarified that the prisoner must have a “rational understanding” of why they are being put to death, not just factual awareness.

Clemency and State Moratoriums

Every death-sentenced prisoner can seek clemency, but who decides varies by state. California, Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina give the governor sole authority to commute or pardon. Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma require some form of clemency board involvement before a governor can act. In Georgia, Nebraska, Nevada, and Utah, a board or advisory group makes the decision outright.9Death Penalty Information Center. Clemency Procedures by State

Clemency is rarely granted. For the 20 women on California’s death row, however, the governor’s existing moratorium functions as a blanket reprieve, keeping executions on hold while individual cases continue through the courts.