diff --git a/pkg/registry/pod/strategy.go b/pkg/registry/pod/strategy.go
index 82ac5c49b0f..fbb977360d2 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/pod/strategy.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/pod/strategy.go
@@ -109,6 +109,10 @@ func (podStrategy) CheckGracefulDelete(obj runtime.Object, options *api.DeleteOp
 	if len(pod.Spec.NodeName) == 0 {
 		period = 0
 	}
+	// if the pod is already terminated, delete immediately
+	if pod.Status.Phase == api.PodFailed || pod.Status.Phase == api.PodSucceeded {
+		period = 0
+	}
 	// ensure the options and the pod are in sync
 	options.GracePeriodSeconds = &period
 	return true
diff --git a/pkg/registry/pod/strategy_test.go b/pkg/registry/pod/strategy_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fec29d10817
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/registry/pod/strategy_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2014 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package pod
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api"
+)
+
+func TestCheckGracefulDelete(t *testing.T) {
+	defaultGracePeriod := int64(30)
+	tcs := []struct {
+		in          *api.Pod
+		gracePeriod int64
+	}{
+		{
+			in: &api.Pod{
+				Spec:   api.PodSpec{NodeName: "something"},
+				Status: api.PodStatus{Phase: api.PodPending},
+			},
+
+			gracePeriod: defaultGracePeriod,
+		},
+		{
+			in: &api.Pod{
+				Spec:   api.PodSpec{NodeName: "something"},
+				Status: api.PodStatus{Phase: api.PodFailed},
+			},
+			gracePeriod: 0,
+		},
+		{
+			in: &api.Pod{
+				Spec:   api.PodSpec{},
+				Status: api.PodStatus{Phase: api.PodPending},
+			},
+			gracePeriod: 0,
+		},
+		{
+			in: &api.Pod{
+				Spec:   api.PodSpec{},
+				Status: api.PodStatus{Phase: api.PodSucceeded},
+			},
+			gracePeriod: 0,
+		},
+		{
+			in: &api.Pod{
+				Spec:   api.PodSpec{},
+				Status: api.PodStatus{},
+			},
+			gracePeriod: 0,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range tcs {
+		out := &api.DeleteOptions{GracePeriodSeconds: &defaultGracePeriod}
+		Strategy.CheckGracefulDelete(tc.in, out)
+		if out.GracePeriodSeconds == nil {
+			t.Errorf("out grace period was nil but supposed to be %v", tc.gracePeriod)
+		}
+		if *(out.GracePeriodSeconds) != tc.gracePeriod {
+			t.Errorf("out grace period was %v but was expected to be %v", *out, tc.gracePeriod)
+		}
+	}
+}