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Three States Carry Out Executions on Same Day for First Time Since 2010

Questions about IV placement in lethal injections have intensified after a May aborted execution.

Overview

  • Two inmates were put to death by lethal injection in Tennessee and Oklahoma within about 30 minutes on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, and Alabama carried out a third execution hours later.
  • Tennessee executed Anthony Darrell Hines for a 1985 motel maid murder after courts and the governor rejected his claims that poor health and the doctor who oversaw a May attempt made his execution likely to fail.
  • Oklahoma executed Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez for the 2003 killing of his girlfriend after the state Pardon and Parole Board voted 3–1 against clemency and he told the board he did not want mercy.
  • Alabama executed Jeremy Williams, who pleaded guilty to the 2021 rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl and formally waived appeals so his sentence could be carried out that evening.
  • The triple executions underscore a wider trend of U.S. executions driven by a small number of states and are likely to prompt further legal and policy scrutiny of lethal-injection procedures, medical staffing and clemency practices.