Florida, Alabama and Indiana carried out executions on Thursday, a rare same-day trio of executions across three states. The Alabama Florida Indiana executions came as California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would commute all 548 death sentences in the state.
Florida executed Jesse Guardado by three-drug injection at a state prison in Starke, according to PBS NewsHour headlines. He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m., a record-tying 19th execution in Florida this year.
Guardado pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 75-year-old Jackie Malone in her Walton County home in 2004, according to the Guardian. He then stole her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to buy drugs, the Guardian reported.
In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the Michigan City state prison, according to PBS NewsHour headlines. He had acknowledged killing his girlfriend’s two children in a 2010 house fire. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said the execution provided long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, according to the Guardian.
Alabama executed Michael Taylor, 54, by lethal injection, according to PBS NewsHour headlines. He was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. local time. In 1991, when he was 19, Taylor fatally beat two elderly victims with a metal bar during a robbery, according to the same report.
Newsom announced he will commute all 548 death sentences in California. He said state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, according to the Guardian. Details of how and when the commutations would take effect, including the legal mechanism, were not in the reporting.
The number of U.S. executions so far this year is disputed between sources. PBS NewsHour headlines, citing the Associated Press, reports 35 executions nationwide, with Florida carrying out more than half. The Guardian reports 34 executions so far this year, with Florida again carrying out more than half.
Florida has carried out more than half of the executions in the U.S. this year under outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaves office in January. Florida plans two more executions later this year, which would set a new state record.
Capital punishment has faced renewed scrutiny since Tennessee’s failed execution of Christa Pike in September. Thursday is only the second time since August that three states have executed people on a single day. The last prior instance was in 2010.
The Indiana pharmacy involved in supplying the drugs faces a disciplinary hearing next week before the Indiana Pharmacy Board.
The execution times for Taylor and Weisheit rest mainly on the Associated Press account, as reported by PBS NewsHour headlines. No second independent source confirms them. The Guardian’s coverage of those executions was available only as a headline and a short excerpt. Alabama attorneys for Taylor had objected earlier to the final method switch, but no response from them on that point was reported. Neither Indiana’s Department of Correction nor the pharmacy has responded to reports about the disciplinary hearing or concerns over the drugs’ expiration and storage. The reasoning of the two dissenting justices on the Indiana Supreme Court was reported only briefly, and the full ruling is not in the available sources.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.