Two Tongan men (by ethnicity) are currently on death row and awaiting execution in the United States, according to a recent criminal justice report on death row inmates in America.
The two men are Siaosi Vanisi (45) from Utah, and Tupoutoe Mataele (41) from California. Both were convicted of murder.
The most recent was Mataele, on death row since 2005 for a shooting murder in Orange County, California. He was sentenced to die for shooting Danell Johnson at point-blank range in 1997 while shaking the man's hand.
Siaosi Vanisi has been a death row inmate since 1999 for the murder of a police officer Sgt George Sullivan in Reno, Nevada. Vanisi was convicted of hacking Sullivan to death with a hatchet and was also found guilty of two armed robberies.
According to the report there are currently 3,070 prison inmates awaiting execution in the United States.
