US carries out first triple execution in 16 years

Three inmates were put to death Thursday — marking the first triple execution in the United States in 16 years.Murderers on death row in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama were executed within hours of each other through lethal injection, USA Today reported. Typically, there is only one execution scheduled per day in the US, sometimes maybe two — but three is “very unusual,” Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robin Maher said. Death penalty observers say that double or triple executions are purely coincidental timing.The first two executions took place early Thursday morning, exactly 30 minutes apart. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 77, was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m.CT in Oklahoma after being sentenced to death for the 2003 murder of his common-law wife, Olimpia Fisher, 43. In front of the Oklahoma Board of Parole and Pardon last month, Cuesta-Rodriguez said the last thing he deserved was mercy despite his attorneys arguing that he be spared from execution.“You must believe that I deserve to suffer,” he said. “And you’re right,” he said, addressing Fisher’s two daughters.

“It’s time for me to pay for what I did,” Cuesta-Rodriguez added while addressing Fisher’s two daughters.Shortly after, Tennessee put Anthony Hines, 66, to death for the 1985 murder of mother of four, Catherine Jean Jenkins, 54. He was pronounced dead at 10:34 a.m.CT.Hines fatally stabbed Jenkins while she was cleaning a motel room where she worked as a maid, pocketed $100 cash from her and took off in his car. He admitted to stealing Jenkins’ car, but maintained all along that he did not kill her. Later Thursday, Alabama executed Jeremy Williams, 42, for the murder and rape of a 5-year-old girl in 2021. Williams was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.

CT.In December 2021, Williams had taken Kamarie Holland, 5, from her home in Columbus City, Georgia, after he agreed to pay Holland’s own mother to sexually abuse her, USA Today reported, citing police. ...