The United States carried out its first triple execution in 16 years on Thursday, with three inmates put to death by lethal injection in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Alabama. This marks a rare occurrence, as typically only one execution is scheduled per day.
The first execution on Thursday was Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 77, who was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. CT in Oklahoma. He was sentenced for the 2003 murder of his common-law wife. Cuesta-Rodriguez acknowledged his guilt, stating to the Oklahoma Board of Parole and Pardon, "You must believe that I deserve to suffer," and "It’s time for me to pay for what I did."
Shortly after, Tennessee executed Anthony Hines, 66, who was pronounced dead at 10:34 a.m. CT. Hines was convicted for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins. He fatally stabbed Jenkins while she was cleaning a motel room where she worked and stole $100 cash. Hines admitted to stealing her car but maintained he did not kill her.
The third execution of the day was Jeremy Williams, 42, in Alabama, who was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. CT. Williams was convicted of murder and rape of a 5-year-old girl in 2021. According to reports, Williams took the child from her home after agreeing to be paid by her mother to sexually abuse her. Police believe the mother sought money for drugs. Williams was executed five years after his crimes, a significantly shorter timeframe than is typical for death row inmates who often face decades of appeals.
The last time the U.S. saw a triple execution was on Jan. 7, 2010, when inmates were executed in Ohio, Texas, and Louisiana. Last month, Florida carried out a double execution, putting two inmates to death on the same day for the first time in nearly a decade.