Three Executions Carry Out in Three States

In a rare event not seen since January 7, 2010, three inmates were executed across three states on the same day in the United States. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was put to death by lethal injection at Oklahoma State Penitentiary for fatally shooting his girlfriend in both eyes after she planned to leave him. Anthony Darrell Hines faced execution in Tennessee for killing a motel maid, and Jeremy Williams was executed in Alabama for the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl.

Cuesta-Rodriguez's execution marks the third this year in Oklahoma under Republican Governor Kevin Stitt. He was convicted of shooting his girlfriend Olimpia Fisher at their home in 2003, with prosecutors stating he waited eight minutes after firing the first shot as she screamed for help before delivering the fatal shot to her other eye.

In Tennessee, Hines was executed for stabbing Catherine Jean Jenkins to death while she worked as a motel maid in 1985. His execution followed an unsuccessful appeal citing health issues and concerns about the qualifications of the doctor who oversaw a previous botched execution attempt. The state Supreme Court ruled that Hines had not proven the doctor was unqualified.

Alabama executed Williams for raping and strangling Kamarie Holland in 2021 after offering her mother $2,500 to abuse the child. Prosecutors revealed that Williams filmed his attack on the girl and kept her body to continue abusing it. This execution was Alabama's first of the year following a halt in nitrogen gas executions due to constitutional concerns.

Eleven states carried out executions in 2025, with Florida leading at 19. If Tennessee and Alabama proceed with their scheduled executions, six states will have conducted executions by the end of this year. 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.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 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. In July, Florida carried out two executions in a single day.