Florida, Alabama and Indiana all carried out executions Thursday, putting to death three people on a day when California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would commute hundreds of death sentences before leaving office.
The unusual trio of executions on a single day in the U.S., and Newsom's plans that experts say would represent the largest mass clemency in American history, underscored national divisions over capital punishment. They also come at a time
of renewed attention over the death penalty following Tennessee's botched execution of Christa Pike in September.
In Florida, the state tied a record with its 19th execution this year and is on track to set a new mark in the coming weeks. Indiana executed a man for killing two children by setting a house fire in 2010, and in Alabama, a man was put to death by lethal injection over killing an older man and woman in a home robbery.
“California may let their criminals escape justice, but not Alabama," Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said. “Here, we enforce the law and always will.”
It marked the second time since August that three states had conducted executions on a single day, although it remains unusual. Previously, the last time it happened was 2010.
Jesse Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a lethal injection at a state prison in Starke. He had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing Jackie Malone, 75, inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.
Florida has carried out more than half of the nation's 35 executions so far this year under outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Guardado, 64, was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the death chamber curtain went up promptly at 6 p.m. Asked if he had a last statement, he replied, “I would like to once again apologize for the pain and suffering I’ve caused to the victim’s family and my own family as well.”
The drugs began flowing immediately afterward. Guardado began breathing heavily, followed by some sputtering and twitching. Soon after, a warden shook Guardado and shouted his name but got no response and a medic then pronounced him dead.
DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has said he wants to bring justice to victims' families who have often waited decades for death sentences to be carried out. He signed the death warrants that led to a state record of 19 executions in 2025. The state is planning two more executions later this year.
Patrick Malone, the victim's son, told reporters that he questioned those who oppose the death penalty.
“Do such people ever think about what happened to the victim or consider the unending aftermath the victim’s family endures and relives every time that terrible event comes up?” Malone said.
In Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. local time after a lethal injection. The execution got underway shortly before 6 p.m. as Taylor replied “no, sir” when asked if he had any final words.
He appeared to mouth “thank you” toward his attorneys seated in the witness room. Taylor’s spiritual adviser approached and prayed with him, and he closed his eyes, never opening them again.
In 1991, Taylor, then 19, fatally beat Ivan Moore, 83, and his wife Lucille, 79, with a metal bar during a robbery in their Gadsden, Alabama, home. Police arrested him in their Cadillac an hour away in Birmingham.
Death penalty opponents had urged Ivey to commute Taylor’s sentence to life in prison, noting his age and immaturity then. She declined.
The victims' family thanked the state attorney general's office for bringing closure, but they lamented having to wait 35 years for the death sentence to be imposed.
“We know that a person has the right to appeal, but there should come a time when the jury’s decision is final. For all these years, our family has had to live with the waiting, the delays, and the uncertainty," the family said in a statement. "We have never forgotten our loved ones or what was taken from us.”
The state switched Taylor's execution method after a judge declared a nitrogen gas method unconstitutional. His attorneys objected since he selected nitrogen gas as his method years ago, but a judge ruled against Taylor.
Attorneys for Taylor said in a statement that he knew the harm he had caused and that “Michael’s life was proof that God isn’t finished with any of us."
In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the state prison in Michigan City, said Noelle Russell, a Department of Correction spokesperson. He had no final words.
Weisheit had acknowledged killing his girlfriend’s two children in a house fire in the Evansville area in 2010 but had hoped Gov. Mike Braun would grant clemency and change his sentence to life in prison. Braun declined.
The execution provided “long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty," Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said.
____
This story has been updated to correct that Tennessee's failed execution was in September, not October.
____
Fischer reported from Starke, Florida, and Chandler from Atmore, Alabama. AP reporter Ed White contributed from Detroit.
