Major Watt Espy, Jr. was an researcher and expert on capital punishment in the United States

Capital punishment in the United States

Capital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...

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Espy, a resident of Headland, Alabama

Headland, Alabama

Headland is a city in Henry County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2000 census the population was 3,523. Ray Marler is the current mayor.-Geography:...

, was an author, with John Ortiz Smykla, of The Espy Files, a database of executions carried out in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and preceding territories from 1608, which is the most complete source of the issue (15,487 people put to death).

He began his research in the 1970s when he was a salesman, working with everything from cemetery plots to security systems. While making calls he'd stop at a prison or courthouse for information. He became full-time researched in 1977.

Espy became a death penalty

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

opponent due to concerns about racial bias, innocence and lack of deterrence.

Espy died aged 76 on August 13, 2009.