In a rare convergence, three US executions are slated for the same day. Oklahoma on Thursday executed Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, marking the first of the three US executions scheduled across the country.
State officials said Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He had been sentenced to death for the 2003 murder of his common-law wife, Olimpia Fisher. Cuesta-Rodriguez sought clemency, saying he was remorseful and had long struggled with mental illness, but his bid was denied.
Later Thursday, Tennessee planned to execute Darrell Hines, 66, for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jackson Jenkins, a motel housekeeper and mother of four. Defense attorneys asked courts to delay the execution, citing the state’s botched attempt in May to execute Tony Carruthers after a prolonged search for a vein. Those efforts to postpone were unsuccessful as of Thursday morning, according to court filings.
Alabama also scheduled the execution of Jeremy Williams, 42, who pleaded guilty to raping and murdering five-year-old Kamarie Holland in Georgia in 2021. Williams declined to appeal, accelerating the timeline compared with most death row cases.
If all three executions proceed in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Alabama, it would be the first time in more than 15 years that three judicial killings occur in the United States on a single day. Officials said the clustering stemmed from scheduling, though it also reflects continued momentum in capital punishment states.
There were 47 executions nationwide last year, up sharply from 25 the year before. Florida accounted for much of the increase, carrying out 19 executions under Governor Ron DeSantis.
Three US executions set by lethal injection
Each of the scheduled executions was set to be carried out by lethal injection, the dominant method in the United States since the early 1980s. Alabama had moved toward an alternative method using nitrogen gas, but a federal judge halted that approach in June, ruling it unconstitutional.
There were 47 executions nationwide last year, up sharply from 25 the year before. Florida accounted for much of the increase, carrying out 19 executions under Governor Ron DeSantis.