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Three U.S. executions on same day mark first since 2010
By Aurax Desk | August 14, 2026 | 2 min read
Three men were executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama on Thursday, marking the first time since 2010 that three U.S. states carried out executions on the same day. The closely timed executions came amid a broader increase in the use of capital punishment in the United States.
Caption: Tennessee and Alabama also carried out lethal-injection executions on Aug. 13, joining Oklahoma in the rare three-state execution day.
Oklahoma executed Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, for the 2003 killing of his common-law wife, Olimpia Fisher. Tennessee then executed Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, for the 1985 stabbing death of motel employee Catherine Jean Jenkins, while Alabama later put Jeremy Williams, 42, to death for the 2021 rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland. The Oklahoma and Tennessee executions occurred within about 30 minutes of each other, with Alabama's taking place several hours later.
The executions were not coordinated as a single event and resulted from separate state proceedings, but their timing produced the first three-execution day in more than 15 years. Eleven states carried out 47 executions in 2025, the highest annual total in the United States since 2009, and Thursday's executions brought the 2026 total to 22, according to reports and death-penalty tracking data. Capital punishment remains legal in 27 states, while 23 states have abolished it and three others maintain gubernatorial moratoriums.
Sources: CBS News, USA Today, The Guardian, Associated Press, Death Penalty Information Center and state corrections departments.