Anthony Chebatoris was born on May 10, 1898, in the Suwałki Governorate of the Russian Empire, an area now part of modern-day Poland. His family immigrated to the United States in 1900, settling in Treveskyn, Pennsylvania. Chebatoris left school after the eighth grade and worked as a laborer before moving to Detroit in 1919.

In 1920, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 7.5 to 20 years in prison. After serving six and a half years, he was paroled but was soon re-arrested for violating the Dyer Act, leading to his return to prison. During his incarceration, he met fellow inmate Jack Gracey, and the two conspired to escape, resulting in their transfer to Marquette Branch Prison. Chebatoris was released in December 1935 and returned to Detroit, where he reconnected with Gracey.

On September 29, 1937, Chebatoris and Gracey attempted to rob the Chemical State Savings Bank in Midland, Michigan. Gracey entered the bank with a sawed-off shotgun, while Chebatoris stood guard with a revolver. During the robbery, Chebatoris shot and wounded bank president Clarence Macomber and cashier Paul Bywater.​

As they fled, local dentist Dr. Frank Hardy fired at them from his office window, hitting both men. Chebatoris, mistaking a bystander, Henry Porter, for a police officer, shot and mortally wounded him. Gracey was killed by Dr. Hardy during the escape attempt. Chebatoris was apprehended shortly after by local authorities.

Chebatoris was tried under the Federal Bank Robbery Act of 1934, which allowed for federal jurisdiction and the death penalty if a death occurred during a bank robbery. Despite Michigan's abolition of the death penalty for murder in 1847, the federal law mandated that executions take place in the state where the crime occurred if the state permitted capital punishment for any crime, which Michigan did for treason.​

Governor Frank Murphy opposed the execution and appealed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt for clemency, but the request was denied. Chebatoris was executed by hanging on July 8, 1938, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan. He remains the only person executed in Michigan since it became a state.