When Did Texas Stop Using the Electric Chair?

Texas Abolished the Electric Chair for Executions

Texas conducted its last execution by electric chair on July 30, 1964, when Joseph Johnson died in the state’s Huntsville unit. The electric chair was retired because of a permanent shift to lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court rulings of the early 1970s invalidated existing death penalty statutes. When the modern death penalty was enacted in Texas in 1979, lethal injection became the sole method of execution and has remained so ever since. No person has been executed in Texas by electric chair since 1964, and the method has no legal path for future use.

Key Legal and Legislative Shifts

The timeline of change in Texas reflects the national arc set by Supreme Court decisions. After Furman v. Georgia (1972) invalidated existing death penalty laws, Texas rewrote its statute to create a bifurcated trial and narrow the class of offenders eligible for execution. The new statute, effective in 1979, codified lethal injection as the only method, formally ending the role of the electric chair in the state.

Across the U.S., states either adopted new electrocution statutes or moved to lethal injection to comply with Eighth Amendment concerns about "cruel and unusual punishments." Texas chose injection as its sole method, ending more than a century of electrocution history since the first use at the Huntsville Unit in 1924.

The 1924–1964 Era of Electrocution in Texas

Texas introduced electrocution with the execution of Charles Reynolds on February 8, 1924, at the Huntsville Unit. By 1926, the electric chair became the primary method of execution, replacing hanging. The chair remained in use for four decades, carrying out 361 executions until the last in 1964.

During this period, executions were typically public and carried out at the state prison in Huntsville. The transition away from the chair was driven by evolving standards of decency, concerns over the spectacle of execution, and the availability of less visually distressing methods of carrying out a death sentence.

1964–1979: The Interim Period With No Method Replaced

Following the 1964 execution, Texas had no functioning execution method until a revised death penalty statute passed in 1979. The state did not carry out any executions between 1964 and 1982, when lethal injection was used for the first time with the execution of Charles Brooks Jr.

• 1924: First electric chair execution in Texas
• 1926: Electric chair becomes standard method
• 1964: Last execution by electric chair (Joseph Johnson)
• 1972: Furman v. Georgia invalidates existing death penalty laws
• 1979: New Texas statute adopts lethal injection only
• 1982: First lethal injection execution in Texas (Charles Brooks Jr.)

Why Texas Ended the Electric Chair

The move away from the electric chair reflected a broader rethinking of execution practices. States sought methods that were more humane and less prone to botched or visually disturbing outcomes. Lethal injection was perceived as more clinical and consistent with evolving standards of decency.

Texas already used a three-drug protocol for lethal injection, adapted from medical anesthesia practices, which reduced visible physical reactions compared to electrocution. The shift also aligned Texas with the direction of most other states that had abandoned electrocution by the late 1990s.

Modern Execution Methods in Texas

Since 1979, Texas has used lethal injection as its sole method of execution. The protocol has evolved over time in response to drug shortages and litigation, but the electric chair has played no role in the modern era. As of today, the only legal methods on the books are variations of lethal injection; there is no current statutory provision for electrocution or any other method.

Judicial rulings have at times paused executions due to concerns about drug efficacy and the potential for unconstitutional suffering. These cases centered on lethal injection protocols, not a reconsideration of electrocution.

Texas Execution Methods Timeline