[1][2] The first execution in Minnesota's history was the 1854 hanging of a Native American man, known in Anglicanized spelling as Uhazy or Yuhagu, for murder.
[4][5] The first documented execution to take place in Minnesota was the 29 December 1854 hanging of Uhazy (also known as Yuhagu), a Dakota man who was convicted of the murder of a white woman.
Uhazy's execution was initially slated to take place in the center of Saint Paul, Minnesota, but Territorial Governor Willis A. Gorman and several citizens protested the establishment of a public gallows in the middle of the city, as the public gallows had attracted a large crowd.
Bilansky, who was convicted of murdering her husband Stanislaus by poisoning him with arsenic, was the only woman executed in the history of Minnesota as a territory or state.
In January 1860, two months before her execution, lawmakers attempted to abolish the death penalty for female defendants; the same day, State Senator J.H.
[6]: 594 Her prosecuting attorney stated in a message to Governor Alexander Ramsey the day before her execution that he had "grave and serious doubts as to whether [Bilansky] had a fair trial.
"[9][10] Another explanation given for Chaska's wrongful execution was that another name by which he went, Caske (meaning "first-born son"), was shared by several other Dakota men, so when U.S. authorities called for Caske to step forward in preparation for his execution, the wrong man stepped forward.
[8] The trials have also come under retrospective scrutiny due to the fact that none of the Dakota men had legal representation, despite the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guaranteeing all defendants the right to an attorney should they face charges.
Another defendant, David Faribault, recounted after the trials that during court proceedings, he did not fully understand the gravity of his charges against him or the potentially deadly consequences of any confessions or admissions.
Miner proposed the abolition of capital punishment in all cases except those where the jury verdict specifically demanded the death penalty.
Public demand for the law's repeal increased in 1877 after brothers Cole, James, and Robert Younger murdered two people during an attempted bank robbery and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
[6] On 9 January 1883, State Senator James O'Brien authored the final bill to repeal the 1868 law; the bill, which mandated capital punishment for first-degree murder in any case where "exceptional circumstances" did not provide the basis for a defendant receiving a life sentence instead, was ratified on 3 March 1883.
[6] The first execution to take place after the passage of the new bill was the 28 August 1885 hanging of convicted murderer John Waisenen.
[6] In 1889, State Representative John Day Smith sponsored a bill to introduce a gag law in Minnesota.
Three sheriff's deputies working for Ramsey County took turns hoisting the rope upward so Williams would be suspended in the air, causing him to slowly strangle to death.
Another member of Minnesota's Republican Party, Tom Neuville, who was a state senator and the leading committee member of Minnesota's Senate Judiciary Committee, publicly opposed Pawlenty's calls to reinstate capital punishment, stating, "If we solve violence by becoming violent ourselves, we become diminished.