Carroll Cole Execution: Nevada's First Lethal Injection
Nevada executed Carroll Cole at 2:10 a.m. on December 6, 1985, over the protests of the ACLU and against no resistance from the man himself. It was the first lethal injection in the state's history.
Case record · Verified against court records and 1985 press archives · Updated July 2026
The Carroll Cole execution took place at Nevada State Prison in Carson City at 2:10 a.m. on December 6, 1985, with 25 witnesses present. Cole was 47 years old and had spent 14 months on death row refusing every appeal filed on his behalf. His execution was the first by lethal injection in Nevada and only the second execution in the state since Jesse Bishop's in October 1979.
The Final 24 Hours
Cole spent his last day at Nevada State Prison receiving visitors, finishing his correspondence, and eating a last meal of jumbo fried shrimp, french fries, salad with French dressing, and Boston clam chowder. The night before, he requested Kentucky Fried Chicken; guards supplied boneless chicken nuggets because death watch inmates were barred from food containing bones. A last-minute stay application, filed without his consent, was rejected hours before the execution proceeded.
Who Tried to Stop the Execution
The American Civil Liberties Union, the United Methodist Church of Reno, and fellow death row inmates campaigned to commute Cole's sentence in the weeks before December 6, 1985. Cole opposed his own defenders, repeating that he wanted the sentence carried out and that he feared killing again if ever freed. Campaigners held a silent protest outside Nevada State Prison as the execution went ahead.
The opposition made the Cole case an early test of a question that still divides death penalty law: whether a state should execute a prisoner who volunteers for it. Cole's reasoning, in his own words and over 5 years of consistent statements, is set out on Carroll Cole Confessions: Why He Confessed to 14 Murders.
The Study of Carroll Cole's Brain
Cole donated his brain for research 2 days before his execution, granting doctors permission to search it for lesions or damage that could explain his violence. Pathologists removed the brain hours after his death and examined it at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. The study made Cole one of the earliest American serial killers whose brain was examined for a biological explanation, 3 decades before neurocriminology became an established field.
Carroll Cole's Place in Execution History
The Carroll Cole execution holds 3 verified places in American execution history. It was the first lethal injection in Nevada, the second Nevada execution after capital punishment resumed, and it fell between William Vandiver's execution in Indiana (October 16, 1985) and James Terry Roach's in South Carolina (January 10, 1986) in the national sequence. Nevada did not execute another prisoner until William Paul Thompson in June 1989.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Carroll Cole Execution
When was Carroll Cole executed?
Carroll Cole was executed at 2:10 a.m. on December 6, 1985, at Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
How did Carroll Cole die?
Carroll Cole died by lethal injection, the first use of the method in Nevada's history.
Why did Carroll Cole refuse to appeal?
Cole refused every appeal because he said he wanted to die and feared he would kill again if released. He chose Nevada's jurisdiction in 1984 because it could impose the death penalty.
What was Carroll Cole's last meal?
His last meal was jumbo fried shrimp, french fries, salad with French dressing, and Boston clam chowder.
What happened to Carroll Cole's brain?
His brain was removed hours after the execution and studied for abnormalities at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, with his prior written consent.
The Record the Execution Closed
The execution ended a case built entirely on Cole's own account of 14 or more murders, detailed date by date on the Carroll Cole Timeline: 1938 to 1985, Every Verified Date. The women whose deaths the sentence answered for are named on Carroll Cole Victims: The 5 Convictions and the 14 Confessions.