George and Michael Krull

Who was George and Michael Krull?

George Krull and Michael Krull were brothers from Pennsylvania, executed by the United States Federal Government on August 21, 1957. They were the only persons ever executed in Georgia on a federal death warrant.

The Krull brothers were convicted for the kidnapping and raping of a 53-year old woman from Chattanooga, Tennessee. They were charged for kidnapping by federal authorities on the grounds that kidnapping was a federal capital crime. If they were charged by the state of Georgia for rape they would still have faced execution, because rape was a capital crime in Georgia at the time.

After President Dwight D. Eisenhower declined to commute their death sentences, the Krull brothers were executed in Georgia's electric chair. George was 34 years old at the time of his death and Michael was 32.

Michael Krull commented on the death sentence, "It was all prejudice. When your local people commit rape they get just 10 or 20 years sometime."