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Year of Abolition
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1887 |
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History
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1644-1887: hanging |
In 1876 the legislature of Maine abolished the death penalty by a vote of 75 to 68. It was reinstated in 1883, and abolished a second time in 1887. The movement toward abolition was driven by a botched execution in 1885. Due to a poorly-tied hangman's noose, Daniel Wilkinson died slowly of strangulation. Wilkinson's execution was the last in Maine.