On this day, May 14, in 1921, Florence Ellinwood Allen became the first female judge to sentence a man to death. Allen’s career marked several firsts in United States history. In 1921, she was elected to the bench in Ohio, becoming the first woman to become judge of a common pleas court.When her court drew the high-profile double-homicide case involving gangster Frank Motto, it marked the first time in America that a woman presided in a murder case with females on the jury. Critics wondered whether the women had the emotional fortitude to handle the duties or whether they would be too lenient. Motto was convicted, and Allen sentenced Motto to the electric chair. Allen received threats from the Black Hand, an early name for the Mafia. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Allen as the first female judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Allen became the first woman to serve as the chief judge of a federal appellate court, a position she held briefly until her retirement in 1959. She died in 1966.