Arthur Gooch (criminal)

Arthur Gooch (January 4, 1909 – June 19, 1936[1])[2] was an American criminal, who is notable for being the only person executed under the Federal Kidnapping Act who did not kill the victim(s).

Arthur Gooch
Born	(1909-01-04)January 4, 1909 Arkansas, U.S.
Died	June 19, 1936(1936-06-19) (aged 27) Oklahoma, U.S.
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Criminal status	Executed
Conviction(s)	Kidnapping (18 U.S.C. § 408) (2 counts)
Criminal penalty	Death

Gooch was the only person sentenced to death and executed by the federal government of the United States[3] for a kidnapping in which the victim(s) were unharmed. Gooch participated in kidnapping two policemen in Texas and released them in Oklahoma.[4] In contrast, Victor Feguer, the last federal inmate executed before 2001 (1963 in Iowa) was sentenced to death for kidnapping, but his victim died. President Kennedy declined to commute the sentence.[5]

Although the electric chair was the only method of execution in Oklahoma at this time, Gooch was executed by hanging. Like Gooch, another federal inmate James Alderman, executed in Florida on August 17, 1929, was also hanged, despite the fact that Florida state law authorized electrocution as a sole method.[6]

The sentence was carried out by Oklahoma's state executioner, Rich Owens. According to the witnesses Gooch's hanging was botched and his death lasted 15 minutes. Many blamed Owens for this failure, as this was the only hanging he ever performed and the first hanging in Oklahoma since 1911.[7]

His last words were reported to have been, "It's kind of funny—dying. I think I know what it will be like. I'll be standing there, and all of a sudden everything will be black, then there'll be a light again. There's got to be a light again—there's got to be."[8]

Gooch was 26 years old at time of his execution.[1]