Maine - Abolishment of the Death Penalty

Maine's legislature first abolished the death penalty in Jan. 1876 with a 75 to 68 vote in the House and an 18 to 11 Senate vote. The death penalty was reinstated in 1883 because the governor cited "an unusually high number of 'cold blooded murders.'" Reportedly botched executions in 1885 and 1887 led to the re-abolishment of the death penalty in 1887, making Maine the only state to abolish the death penalty twice.


Source: John F. Galliher, Larry W. Koch, David Patrick Keys, and Teresa J. Guess, Without the Death Penalty: States Leading the Way, 2002