Juanita Spinelli: the First Woman Executed at San Quentin State Prison

• Jurisdiction: California,United States
• Citation: Vol. 19 No. 2
• Publication year: 2019
• Author: By Lani L. Biafore, Esq.
• topic: Criminal Law

JUANITA SPINELLI: THE FIRST WOMAN EXECUTED AT SAN QUENTIN STATE PRISON

By Lani L. Biafore, Esq.

On March 13, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) issued an executive order that placed a moratorium on executions and essentially halted death row executions indefinitely. However, only voters can overturn the death penalty laws, as they exist in California. There are currently 737 inmates on death row in California. San Quentin, established in 1852, is the oldest prison in California, and it is the current location for male death row inmates. Female death row inmates are currently housed at the Central California Women's Facility.¹ However, all executions must occur at San Quentin.²

Juanita Spinelli, also known as The Duchess³, became the first woman executed by the State of California and the first woman executed by lethal gas at San Quentin on November 21, 1941.⁴ A leader of a criminal gang, a mother, a grandmother, a seamstress, a seductress, a professional knife thrower, and sometime wrestler, Juanita Spinelli operated out of Northern California. While her personal life was replete with peccadillos that would make a Hollywood writer giddy, the reality of her life was mostly tragic. The constant...