Eddie Lee Mays (March 15, 1929 – August 15, 1963) was the last person to be executed by the state of New York. He was convicted of first degree murder and robbery in 1962. Mays was 34 years old at the time of execution. Early life Mays was born in Walstonburg, North Carolina on March 15, 1929. Eddie was the youngest of five children, and his father abandoned the family for Baltimore, where he would go to prison for murder, when Eddie was 6 months old. Mays dropped out of school when he was 14 and spent the next several months working menial jobs in his home town. He later left for Baltimore, and first appeared on a police blotter in 1945. Mays was arrested for larceny, then assault for slashing his live-in girlfriend with a razor. After spending six months in jail, he returned to North Carolina. In 1951, Mays was fined $10 for assault after slashing a man during an argument. He returned to Baltimore a month later, but was re-arrested and sent back to North Carolina for killing a man. Mays pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served nearly seven years in prison before being released in 1958. After his release, Mays went to New York City. There, he was convicted of felonious assault for slashing a man during an argument. Mays was given a three-year suspended sentence and his probation ended in January 1961. Murder, trial, and execution On March 23, 1961, Mays and two accomplices, 34-year-old David Johnson and 30-year-old Jose Sanchez-Fernandez, held up the Friendly Tavern, at 1403 Fifth Avenue in East Harlem. Mays ordered the owner and the patrons to put their cash on the bar. However 31-year-old Maria Marini, who witnesses said was too slow to comply, enraged Mays. After opening her purse and finding it empty, Mays put a .38 caliber revolver to her forehead and pulled the trigger, killing her instantly. The gang stole a total of $275 from the bartender and several customers during the robbery. In a 1988 interview with Manuel Guerriero, who defended Mays, he and other defense lawyers had convinced the prosecution to make an arrangement lowering his charge to second degree murder, which would have spared his life. However, Mays rejected the offer, saying he would prefer to be executed. At Mays's subsequent trial, the court heard that he had been part of a gang which