Tony Chebatoris
Anthony Chebatoris (May 10, 1898 – July 8, 1938) was a Russian-born bank robber and convicted murderer who is the only person to be executed in the U.S. state of Michigan since it gained statehood in 1837. Although Michigan abolished capital punishment for murder in 1847, Chebatoris was tried under the new Federal Bank Robbery Act of 1934, which made bank robbery and its related offenses federal crimes, beyond state jurisdiction.
Tony Chebatoris | |
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Chebatoris in 1928 | |
| Born | Anthony Chebatoris May 10, 1898 |
| Died | July 8, 1938 (aged 40) FCI Milan, York Township, Michigan, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | Killing during the commission of a bank robbery (12 U.S.C. § 588c) |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
With another new federal law requiring Chebatoris's execution to take place in Michigan, governor Frank Murphy, citing Michigan's longstanding "civilized record" of not inflicting capital punishment within its borders, petitioned President Franklin D. Roosevelt to commute Chebatoris's sentence to life in prison. With no legal basis to do so, Roosevelt refused, and Chebatoris was subsequently hanged at Federal Correctional Institution, Milan, a federal prison near Milan, Michigan.