Jesse Bishop
Jesse Walter Bishop (March 1, 1933 – October 22, 1979) was an American criminal convicted of the December 1977 murder of David Ballard during a robbery at a Las Vegas Strip casino. Bishop was executed in 1979 by the state of Nevada via gas chamber, becoming the first person to be executed in Nevada since 1961. He was also the first person to be executed in Nevada since the reinstatement of capital punishment, and the third (after Gary Gilmore and John Spenkelink) in the United States. Bishop had spent twenty years of his life incarcerated for various felony offenses and bragged about having committed an estimated eighteen homicides. Early life Bishop was born on March 1, 1933, in Glasgow, Kentucky. One of four children, Bishop's parents separated when he was 5, resulting in him moving in with his father in East Los Angeles, California. According to Bishop, his father beat him twice a year regardless of whether he had done anything wrong or not. At age 15, Bishop joined a street gang and committed his first armed robbery in Southern California. Two years later, he joined the Air Force as a paratrooper. He served in the Korean War where he sustained injuries and was decorated for his actions. Bishop developed a drug habit and was caught in possession of heroin, resulting in him being dishonorably discharged. He spent two years at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, before returning to life as a civilian. He then led a life of crime which was mostly full of drug offenses and robberies. Murder In 1962, Bishop served time in a California state prison for robbery and spent five years behind bars. He was paroled in 1967 but continued his life of crime, abusing heroin, and committing robberies. In 1970, he returned to prison once again. He successfully escaped from prison in 1972 but was caught shortly afterward and returned. In 1976, he won a parole to Los Angeles, however, according to prison records, he continued to abuse heroin and commit crimes. In 1977, he committed an armed robbery and became a wanted fugitive. On December 20, 1977, Bishop walked into the El Morocco casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. Armed with a .38-caliber revolver, he held up the female cashier and demanded all of the money. Two men witnessed the robbery and attempted to intervene. Employee Larry Thompson, and another casino customer, David Ballard, tried to stop him. Bishop shot Thompson in the stomach and Ballard in the back as he tried to flee. Bishop stole $238 and fled the casino. Thompson survived the shooting, but Ballard, a 22-year-old newlywed Volkswagen mechanic from Baltimore, Maryland, succumbed to his injuries and died in hospital on December 30. He never regained consciousness following the shooting. He had been married for only three hours before being shot. Capture Following the shooting, Bishop fled the casino in a green car, which was found abandoned at the Frontier Hotel the