US carries out first triple execution in nearly two decades
Three death row inmates in different US states faced the ultimate punishment on Thursday (13 August).
Marking America's first triple execution since 2010, a trio of men who were each convicted of murder were executed in succession in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama.
In the space of less than 24 hours, lethal injections were administered to the three killers - Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, Darrell Hines and Jeremy Williams - but the timing was a mere coincidence rather than deliberate.
It is the first time in nearly two decades that three executions have taken place in the US on one single day, as this last occurred in 2010 in Ohio, Texas and Louisiana.
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Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, was pronounced dead at 10:13am on Thursday after receiving the lethal injection for the 2003 shooting of mother-of-two Olimpia Fisher, 43.
He was convicted of firing two fatal bullets into both of his girlfriend's eyes at a property they shared in Oklahoma in 2003.
Cuesta-Rodriguez did not have any last words, but previously told the parole board that he believed it was 'time for him to pay for what he did'.
In a statement, his loved ones said he was a 'different man from the one who committed his horrible crime – remorseful every single day, burdened by the weight of what he had done'.
It added: "His legacy will not be measured by his worst moment, but by the countless moments after – the letters that never failed to arrive, the art he created from behind those walls, and the love and light he poured out consistently and unconditionally, proving that even from a place of such darkness, one person’s kindness and redemption can still ripple into the world."
A short time later, Darrell Hines was put to death in Tennessee for the 1985 murder of motel maid and mother-of-four Catherine Jean Jenkins, 54.
The 66-year-old was pronounced dead at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at 10:43am, despite his legal team's efforts to postpone his scheduled execution.
Hines' lasts words, according to Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, were: "Tell my son hello."
Jenkins' son Dennis said he hoped that the killer endured some suffering 'because what he did to his mother is nothing to what he just gone through'.
His lawyer Katherine Dix said: "The leaders of this state repeatedly invoke the sanctity of life, but today the state put to death a man who was blind and paralysed on his left side, could not walk, and was in constant pain.
"They lifted his body on to a gurney and wheeled him to the death chamber. May God have mercy on us all.”
Jeremy Williams then took his last breaths at 6:16pm after uttering his final words, which were: "I want to thank God for forgiving me for my sins so I can meet him in peace. Goodnight."
He was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland in Georgia in 2021. He had asked for his execution to be carried out and did not appeal.
Governor Kay Ivey said that the 'unspeakable nature of this crime is exactly why we have the death penalty statute in the state of Alabama' in the wake of Williams' death.
Kamarie's father Corey Holland remembered his daughter as a child who 'liked anything girly', saying: "She loved playing dress-up, all her little Halloween costumes and her princess stuff I got her."
Last words of famous death row inmates
Ted Bundy
Bundy was sentenced to death for assaulting and murdering dozens of young women and girls across several states during the 1970s.
After maintaining his innocence for more than a decade, Bundy officially confessed to 30 murders shortly before his execution, seemingly in a last-minute bid to buy more time.
On 25 January, 1989, the 42-year-old was executed by the electric chair at Florida State Prison.
Addressing his lawyer Jim Coleman and Methodist minister Fred Lawrence, who had spent Bundy’s final night with him praying, the serial killer said: “Jim and Fred, I’d like you to give my love to my family and friends.”
Aileen Wuornos
Wuornos was a sex worker who shot and killed seven men along Florida highways between 1989 and 1990.
Following a highly publicised trial, she was convicted of first-degree murder for six of the killings and executed at Florida State Prison on 9 October, 2002.
Before her death, Wuornos said: “I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back like Independence Day, with Jesus June 6. Like the movie, big mother ship and all, I'll be back.”
John Spenkelink
Spenkelink was convicted of first-degree murder after killing his travelling companion, Joseph Szymankiewicz, in a Florida motel room on February 4, 1973.
Despite extensive failed appeals, he was executed via the electric chair at Florida State Prison on May 25, 1979.
At the age of 30, Spenkelink’s reported last words were: “Capital punishment - them without the capital get the punishment.”
William Bonin
Known as the ‘Freeway Killer’, Bonin raped, tortured, and murdered at least 21 boys and young men between 1979 and 1980, dumping their bodies alongside various highways in Southern California.
He was convicted of 14 murders and was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison on 23 February, 1996.
When asked for his last words, Bonin, 49, told the warden: “That I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand. That I feel it sends the wrong message to the youth of the country.
“Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them to act. And I would suggest that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, that they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously.”
Clarence Ray Allen
Allen was handed capital punishment in 1982 after ordering a triple murder while serving a life sentence for arranging the 1974 murder of Mary Sue Kitts, a potential witness against him in a burglary case.
At 76 years old, Allen was put to death via lethal injection at California’s San Quentin State Prison on 17 January, 2006.
“My last words will be, Hoka Hey, it's a good day to die. Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye,” his final statement read. It was the state’s last execution.
Olivia Burke