had committed 52 robberies in six weeks. He told reporters he would rather "fry" than spend his life in prison. After deliberating for 90 minutes, the jury found Mays guilty of first degree murder. They deliberated another 20 minutes before refusing to recommend mercy, resulting in Mays receiving a mandatory death sentence. One of the jurors in his trial was composer Robert Sour. Johnson and Sanchez-Fernandez received life sentences. Johnson was paroled in 1976, and was working a job in the Bronx in 1983. Sanchez-Fernandez was paroled in 1977, but died of brain cancer a year later. Mays entered the execution room at 10:01 p.m. on August 15, 1963, accompanied by a Protestant chaplain, and was strapped into the electric chair. He made no final statement to the prison warden or other witnesses before being electrocuted, and was pronounced dead three minutes later, at 10:04 p.m. Mays would become the last person to be executed by "Old Sparky", New York state's electric chair at Sing Sing prison. The state electrician was Dow Hover. The electric chair had been the sole method of execution in the state since 1890 (hanging had been abolished in 1888). In 1965, the state of New York repealed the death penalty, except for cases involving the murder of a police officer. Although the legislature never fully repealed the death penalty statute, and the state even expanded it in 1995, there were no further executions because of rulings by Furman v. Georgia in 1972 at the Supreme Court and People v. LaValle in 2004 at the New York Court of Appeals. See also Capital punishment in New York (state) Capital punishment in the United States List of most recent executions by jurisdiction List of people executed in New York References External links New York Executions; retrieved November 12, 2007. NY Timeline. Death Penalty Information Center; retrieved November 12, 2007. A Look At The Last Man To Dine In The Empire State. Dead Man Eating; retrieved November 11, 2012. Clyde Haberman. NYC; Life or Death? More Yawns Than Passion. The New York Times (May 29, 1998); retrieved November 12, 2007. 1929 births 1963 deaths 1961 murders in the United States American people executed for murder American people convicted of manslaughter Executed African-American people Executed people from North Carolina 20th-century executions by New York (state) People executed by New York (state) by electric chair 20th-century executions of American people