3 states carry out executions in a single day, first time since 2010

Tennessee and Oklahoma executed inmates within 30 minutes of each other on Thursday, followed by Alabama later in the day, marking the first time since 2010 that U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in a single day.

The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985 and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was executed for killing a 5-year-old girl he paid her mother to abuse.

Having three executions in one day is a coincidence in scheduling, but it also reflects a trend of increased executions in the U.S. Eleven states executed a total of 47 people in 2025, the highest number since 2009. 

The last time three executions were held on the same day was Jan. 7, 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio and Texas put inmates to death. Three executions were scheduled on the same day in 2018, but only one went forward after a Texas man was granted a reprieve and prison officials in Alabama had problems with the IV line.

Nationwide, a total of 21 executions have been carried out so far this year, including Thursday's, and nearly a dozen more are scheduled, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Florida has conducted 12 executions to date in 2026 — more than all other states combined. In July, Florida carried out two executions in a single day.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaves office in January, oversaw a record 19 executions last year, more in a single year than any other Florida governor since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the U.S. in 1976. 

Oklahoma prisoner said he regretted 2003 killing of girlfriend

Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, died by lethal injection at the state's penitentiary in rural McAlester, Oklahoma. He was the third person put to death this year in the state.

Cuesta-Rodriguez turned his head to look at his two relatives who attended and mouthed "I love you," but said he had no last words.

His breathing was labored for several minutes before he was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. CT.

Convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend at their Oklahoma City home in 2003, Cuesta-Rodriguez said he regretted killing Olimpia Fisher and told a board he didn't want clemency. His attorneys said he had a difficult childhood in Cuba and suffered from brain damage and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Fisher, 43, planned to leave Cuesta-Rodriguez when he shot her in one eye and then waited about eight minutes as she screamed for help before firing the fatal shot into her other eye.

Fisher's daughters, Cinthya Allen and Katya Wallis, said in a statement that they hope the execution brings awareness to preventing domestic violence and they honor their mother by "raising our families to reflect the love and faith in God that she taught us."

Tennessee man challenged execution after previous one was halted

Anthony Darrell Hines was executed by lethal injection in Tennessee for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins. He was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CT.

Hines stabbed Jenkins to death while the 54-year-old was working as a motel maid in Kingston Springs.

Hines said "not right now, thank you" when asked if he had final words, then said, "Tell my son hello" before he died. Hines' son witnessed the execution. He reconnected with his father four days earlier after not seeing him since he was 3 years old.

About four minutes after the curtain to the death chamber opened, Hines asked his spiritual adviser: "How long do I have?" Not long afterward, witnesses heard groans and heavy breathing as the spiritual adviser put her hands on his shoulders and prayed over him.

After the execution, Jenkins' son detailed how his mother was killed with only a plastic spray bottle to defend against the knife attacks.

"I hope he felt severe pain because what he did to my mother is nothing compared to what he may have just gone through," Dennis Jenkins said.

Hines' execution comes just three months after the attempted lethal injection of another man was stopped as medical staff couldn't establish a backup IV line for more than an hour.

Hines, 66, appealed unsuccessfully to the governor and the courts, saying that the doctor who oversaw the May execution was unqualified and likely to botch his execution as well.

Alabama inmate pleaded guilty to rape and killing of girl

Alabama executed Jeremy Williams for the 2021 rape and murder of a young Georgia girl. 

"I want to thank God for forgiving me for my sins so I can meet him in peace," Williams said on the gurney. He rocked his head back and forth and smiled and appeared to sing or speak before slowing become still. 

A member of his family cried quietly throughout, and Williams was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. local time.

Williams, who pleaded guilty to killing Kamarie Holland, declined to appeal and requested that his death sentence be carried out. In letters to the Alabama attorney general's office, Williams sought an immediate execution date so his victim's family "may have some type of closure and satisfaction which they deserve."

Williams, 42, raped and strangled Holland after offering her mother $2,500 for the child to perform a sex act, prosecutors said, adding he filmed his attack.

"To see on video what he did to this baby, what a grown man could do to a child, it's shocking, it's horrible, it's disgusting," Russell County District Attorney Richard Chancey said. "It's just a level of evil."

The girl's mother is serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to sex trafficking.

Williams was also a suspect in the 2005 death of his infant daughter in Alaska but charges were not filed until 2022.

Corey Holland, Kamarie's father, said she was an exuberant child who loved princesses and made people laugh.

"She loved playing dress-up, all her little Halloween costumes and her princess stuff I got her. She liked anything girly," Corey Holland said.

It was Alabama's first execution of the year. A nitrogen gas execution was put on hold in June after a federal judge ruled the method unconstitutional.