Hoepner was a participant in the 20 July plot against Hitler in 1944 and after the coup failed he was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo. He refused an opportunity to commit suicide and demanded a trial, though he would later come to regret it. A summary trial was conducted by the "Volksgerichtshof" and Hoepner was verbally attacked and sentenced to death. Like other defendants, including Erwin von Witzleben, Hoepner was humiliated during the trial by being made to wear ill-fitting clothes, and not being allowed to have his false teeth. Although judge Roland Freisler berated Hoepner, even he objected to him being made to dress in such a way. Hoepner was hanged by wire mounted from meat hooks on 8 August, at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.