Indiana, Florida, and Alabama each executed a death row inmate on Thursday, a rare occurrence that marked the second time this year that three executions have taken place in the U.S. on the same day.
The first triple execution of 2026 happened on August 13, when Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Alabama carried out executions within hours of each other. Prior to that, the last time three inmates were executed on the same day was January 7, 2010.
In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. after being executed by lethal injection. He was convicted of setting a 2010 house fire that killed his girlfriend's two young children amid a deteriorating relationship. Weisheit's attorneys sought further brain scans, citing his history of head injuries and mental health issues, but Republican Governor Mike Braun denied the request and rejected appeals to commute the sentence to life in prison.
Indiana officials stated they were confident in their ability to conduct the execution humanely, and Governor Braun noted that Weisheit's case had undergone multiple reviews without its sentence being overturned. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said the execution provided "long-awaited justice" for the children.
Later in the day, Florida executed Jesse Guardado, 64, by lethal injection at 6:13 p.m. Guardado had confessed to and pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman in 2004, stealing her belongings to support a drug addiction. Florida's execution count this year now matches its 2025 record of 19 inmates put to death. The state has increased executions since Governor Ron DeSantis signed a series of death warrants. In July, Florida carried out its first double execution in nearly a decade.
Alabama concluded the day by executing Michael Taylor, 54, for the 1991 murders of an elderly couple killed during a robbery. Taylor was apprehended shortly after the crime with the victims' vehicle. His attorneys had raised objections to the lethal injection method and sought to preserve his prior request for execution by nitrogen gas, but a judge ruled against these objections. Governor Kay Ivey denied calls to commute Taylor's sentence, describing his actions as "reprehensible."
The victims' family expressed their gratitude for the closure provided by the execution but also disappointment over the 35-year wait for the sentence to be carried out.
These executions occurred amidst renewed scrutiny of lethal injection procedures, following a botched execution in Tennessee in late September where an inmate survived multiple doses of lethal drugs. On the same day as these triple executions, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his intent to commute all 548 death sentences in the state to life without parole, citing his belief that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California's values.