An Indiana man who admitted killing two children in a house fire was set to be executed in the first of three lethal injections scheduled for Thursday in the U.S.
Florida and Alabama were also set to carry out executions, which would mark the second time this year that three people would be put to death on the same day. The death penalty has faced renewed scrutiny following Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike, although courts have rejected
efforts to halt other executions since she survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital last month.
It will be Florida's 19th execution this year under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — matching a record set by the state in 2025 — but the first this year in Indiana, where the death penalty is not as common.
Jeffrey Weisheit was convicted of setting a fire that killed his girlfriend's two children, ages 8 and 5, at a home in the Evansville area in 2010, murders apparently related to the couple's deteriorating relationship.
Lawyers wanted Republican Gov. Mike Braun to allow Weisheit, 50, to undergo brain scans in an effort to reinforce their argument that he has a history of head injuries and mental health problems. Braun declined, and he also turned down a request to reduce the sentence to life in prison.
Weisheit's latest objection centered on the state's planned use of lethal drugs purchased from a pharmacy that is facing a disciplinary hearing next week at the Indiana Pharmacy Board. The Indiana Department of Correction said it's confident “in our ability to humanely carry out” the execution.
In Florida, Jesse Guardado confessed and quickly pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to support his drug habit. She had helped him get a job and housing.
A federal appeals court in 2024 said Guardado, now 64, had received a “full and fair” hearing during the death penalty phase of his case.
Florida has carried out more than half the 32 total executions in the U.S. so far this year. DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has said his goal is to bring justice to families who have waited decades for the death sentences to be carried out.
Michael Taylor, 54, faces execution in Alabama, 35 years after fatally beating an older couple with a metal bar during a robbery in their Gadsden home. Police arrested the 19-year-old with the victims' Cadillac, an hour away in Birmingham. The execution would be the state's third this year.
Death penalty opponents had urged Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to reduce Taylor's sentence to life in prison, noting his age and immaturity at the time of the killings. She declined.
“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,” said Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty.
The state plans to execute Taylor by lethal injection after a judge declared a nitrogen gas method unconstitutional. His attorneys objected to the last-minute switch to lethal injection since he selected nitrogen gas as his method several years ago, but a judge ruled against Taylor.
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Fischer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Chandler from Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Press reporter Ed White contributed from Detroit.
