The United States has set an unprecedented precedent in judicial practice in recent decades.
On August 13, three death row inmates were executed in three different states on the same day. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, this is the first time in 16 years that three death row inmates have been executed on the same day in the United States. The last such case was registered on January 7, 2010, when executions were carried out in Louisiana, Ohio and Texas.
Law enforcement authorities in the states of Tennessee, Oklahoma and Alabama confirmed that all three procedures were carried out by lethal injection - a method that remains standard in most American states. Although authorities have described the simultaneous executions as a mere coincidence in prison schedules, the event highlights the complicated political and social situation surrounding the application of the most severe punishment across the Atlantic.
Who are the executed and what were their crimes?
The three executions were carried out consecutively within a few hours on Thursday:
- Tennessee: The first person executed of the day was 66-year-old Anthony Darrell Hines. He spent nearly four decades behind bars after being convicted of the brutal stabbing death of a motel maid in 1985. His lawyers tried to get a last-minute acquittal because of his health problems and previous strokes, but the court dismissed the appeal.
- Oklahoma: Shortly thereafter, 70-year-old Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was killed at the McAllister State Prison. He received the most severe sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Olympia Fisher in 2003. Cuesta-Rodriguez himself waived his right to seek clemency from the parole board and said he regretted what he had done.
- Alabama: The sentence of 42-year-old Jeremy Williams was carried out last. He was found guilty of the shocking rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl in 2021. Williams was also among the so-called “volunteers“ on death row, voluntarily dropping further appeals and requesting that his sentence be carried out as soon as possible.
Return of the death penalty or isolation of several states?
According to the international news agency Associated Press (apnews.com), the number of executions in the United States has seen a significant increase in the last year. In 2025, a total of 47 people were executed in the country, which is the highest figure since 2009. The main driver of this trend is the state of Florida under the leadership of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
Despite the statistical jump, however, experts note a paradox. Data from the Gallup polling agency (gallup.com) show that public support for the death penalty in the United States has fallen to 52% - the lowest level since 1970. The Republican administration of President Donald Trump, which took office in early 2025, supports the expansion of execution methods and calls for faster justice for serious crimes, but the actual implementation of the practice remains concentrated in just six or seven states. The death penalty is currently legal in 27 US states, but in four of them (California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Ohio) there is an official moratorium imposed by local governors.