conviction_status death_date death_place birth_name alias conviction image_size conviction_penalty image_caption birth_date article_title name image_name
executed prison on october 31 , 1938 at sugar house 31 october 1938 salt lake city , utah , usa john w. deering fred davis first-degree murder & ndash ; 1938 200px execution by firing squad deering in 1938 1898 09 y john deering
 john deering john deering mugshot.jpg
john deering

john w. deering -lrb- september 1898 -- october 31 , 1938 -rrb- was the subject of an experiment to observe what would happen to the human heart during death by gunshot .
deering , an american facing execution by the state of utah for the may 1938 murder of oliver r. meredith jr. , volunteered to have himself hooked up to an electrocardiogram while he was shot by a firing squad .
the test indicated that his heart stopped in about 15 seconds of being hit , although other bodily functions , such as breathing , continued for a longer period of time .
