A handful of defendants have been sentenced to death in Butler County’s history.

Gov. Tom Wolf in 2015 declared a moratorium on the death penalty, and the last execution of a prisoner in Pennsylvania was in 1999. Per state law, the death penalty may be given to a person found guilty of first-degree murder. The jury decides the penalty at a sentencing hearing and is instructed to consider if there is evidence to prove aggravating or mitigating circumstances.

Here is a history of death penalty cases in Butler County:

- The most recent execution in the county was of Henry A. Blakeley, a Buffalo Township farmer. He was sent to the electric chair in 1922 for killing longtime rival Edward F. Kummer.

- The most recent conviction was of Donald Mitchell Tedford who, as of this month, is still on death row at a Greene County prison, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website.

Tedford in 1987 was sentenced to death in Butler County by Judge Floyd Rauschberger after being convicted of first-degree murder for raping and killing a Cranberry Township woman in 1986 who he met while on a work release from prison.

- The first recorded capital punishment in the county was Samuel Mohawk, who was publicly hanged in the Butler County Jail yard on March 22, 1844. Known as “Mohawk Sam” of the Seneca Indian tribe, he was convicted of smashing the skulls of six members of the James Wigton family.

- Harris Bell in 1848 was hanged after being convicted of rape and murder, though few other details were recorded.

- On Dec. 7, 1896, Prospect resident Zachary Taylor Hockenberry was hanged inside the Butler County Jail for shooting to death Nancy Ann McCandless in 1868.

The death penalty has been in play, but not given in numerous cases since Tedford’s conviction:

- Jarred Knight in 2009 was convicted of third-degree murder for killing 13-month-old Tyler Davis in Marion Township in 2007. He was given 20 to 40 years in prison. The jury decided against a conviction of first-degree murder, which would have made the death penalty a possible sentence.

- Collin Abbott, originally from New Jersey, is serving a prison sentence for the gruesome murders of his wealthy father and stepmother on their Brady Township estate in 2011. Abbott pleaded no contest to two counts of third-degree murder in 2013, which took the possibility of the death penalty off the table.

- In October 2006, Johnathan Tusa was sentenced to two life sentences for shooting and killing Dawn Giza Tusa and her unborn baby in 2004. The jury did not opt for a death sentence in that case.

- Chad Sasse in 2005 was spared the possibility of a death sentence when a jury convicted him of third-degree murder. He received 20 to 44 years in prison for shooting 29-year-old Randy Raida to death in the parking lot of a Middlesex Township business on Dec. 23, 2004, during a custody exchange gone awry.

- The district attorney had sought the death penalty in the case against Terry Schrecengost, who was convicted of shooting Greg Morter in 1996. He was found guilty of second-degree murder in 1997 and sentenced to life in prison.