Three US executions carried out on the same day across Indiana, Florida and Alabama
Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit early Thursday for a 2010 arson that killed two children, the first of three US executions scheduled on the same day.
Three states execute death row inmates on the same day
Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, shortly after midnight on Thursday, making him the first of three death row inmates put to death across the United States on the same day, wfmd.com reports.
Weisheit was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City after receiving a lethal injection, according to Noelle Russell, chief communications officer for the Indiana Department of Correction. He had been convicted of setting a house fire in 2010 that killed his girlfriend's two young children, aged 8 and 5, as the couple's relationship deteriorated.
His attorneys had sought permission for additional brain scans, arguing that a history of head injuries and mental health problems warranted further examination. Republican Governor Mike Braun denied the request and also rejected appeals to commute the sentence to life in prison.
Weisheit requested barbecue ribs as his final meal and did not make a final statement. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said the execution delivered "long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty."
Braun noted after the execution that Weisheit's case had undergone repeated reviews in state and federal courts. "These reviews have never resulted in an overturned sentence," Braun said in a statement. "Today, Weisheit's sentence has been carried out as ordered by the court."
Weisheit's lawyers had also raised concerns about Indiana's use of execution drugs obtained from a pharmacy facing a disciplinary hearing before the Indiana Pharmacy Board. The Department of Correction maintained it was confident in its ability to carry out the execution humanely.
Florida's 19th execution of 2026
Later Thursday, Florida executed Jesse Guardado, 64, for the 2004 murder of Jackie Malone, a 75-year-old woman who had helped him find a job and housing. Guardado confessed and pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing Malone inside her home before stealing her jewellery box, $80 and other items to fund his drug addiction.
The execution was Florida's 19th of 2026, matching the record set last year. Florida carried out a record 19 executions in 2025 — more than under any other Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 — accounting for roughly 40% of the 47 executions carried out nationwide that year.
Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, urged the state to halt Guardado's execution. "Jesse Guardado has accepted responsibility for killing Jackie Malone and has consistently expressed deep remorse. Florida should accept responsibility for what it did to him as a child, too," Hanna said in a statement.
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a series of death warrants since 2025, driving the state's accelerated pace of executions. Florida has accounted for more than half of the 32 executions carried out nationwide before Thursday's scheduled executions. In July, Florida executed two prisoners on the same day, the first double execution by a single state in nearly a decade.
Alabama execution for 1991 double murder
In Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, was scheduled to be executed for the 1991 murders of an elderly couple beaten to death with a metal bar during a robbery inside their home. Authorities caught Taylor in Birmingham, approximately an hour away, with the victims' Cadillac.
Alabama officials planned to execute Taylor by lethal injection after a judge ruled against his attorneys' objections to the method. Taylor had previously requested execution by nitrogen gas, and his attorneys sought to preserve that option.
Death penalty opponents urged Republican Governor Kay Ivey to commute Taylor's sentence to life in prison, arguing he was too young and immature at 19 to fully appreciate the consequences of his actions. "If the state kills Michael, it is not the 19-year-old who made the worst mistake of his life who it kills. But the mature, well-respected, God-fearing man sitting in that cell today," said Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, speaking to The Associated Press. Ivey rejected the clemency requests.
Second triple execution day of the year
Thursday marked the second time this year that three death row inmates were put to death on the same day in the United States. The first such occasion took place on 13 August, when Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama executed three inmates within hours of each other.
The planned executions came amid renewed scrutiny of lethal injection procedures following a failed execution attempt in Tennessee in September, when death row inmate Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital and was rushed to hospital. She has since returned to prison.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)