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 took place in the US on one single day, as this last occurred in 2010 in Ohio, Texas and Louisiana.
Advert
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 teams 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 6.16 p.m 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 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."
Olivia Burke