Indiana executed a man convicted of killing his girlfriend's two young children early Thursday, marking the first of three executions scheduled across the US on the same day.
Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City after receiving a lethal injection, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Florida and Alabama are set to carry out executions later Thursday, which would mark the second time this year that three death row inmates have been put to death on the same day.
The first such day this year took place on August 13, when Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama executed three inmates within hours of each other.
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In Florida, Thursday's execution would be the state's 19th of 2026, matching the record set last year. Alabama is preparing for its third execution of the year, while Indiana has now carried out its first.
Jesse Guardado, 64, is scheduled to be executed in Florida after confessing and pleading guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman who had helped him find a job and housing in 2004.
Guardado killed Jackie Malone inside her home before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other items to fund his drug addiction.
"Jesse Guardado has accepted responsibility for killing Jackie Malone and has consistently expressed deep remorse. Florida should accept responsibility for what it did to him as a child, too," Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said in a statement while urging the state to halt the execution.
Florida has ramped up executions as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a series of death warrants since 2025. The state carried out a record 19 executions last year, more than under any other Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Those 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 before Thursday's scheduled executions. In July, Florida executed two prisoners on the same day, marking the first double execution by a single state in nearly a decade.
In Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, is scheduled to be executed for the 1991 murders of an older couple who 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 after a judge ruled against his attorneys' objections to the method. Taylor had previously requested execution by nitrogen gas, and his attorneys sought to preserve that choice.
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Death penalty opponents urged Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to commute Taylor's sentence to life in prison, arguing that he was too young and immature at 19 to fully appreciate the consequences of his actions.
"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," Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty told The Associated Press.
Ivey rejected the clemency requests, clearing the way for Taylor's scheduled execution.
In Indiana, Weisheit was executed for setting a 2010 house fire that killed his girlfriend's two children, ages 8 and 5, as the couple's relationship deteriorated.
The lethal injection began shortly after midnight, and Weisheit was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m., according to Noelle Russell, chief communications officer for the Indiana Department of Correction.
Weisheit requested barbecue ribs for his final meal and did not make a final statement, Russell said.
His attorneys sought permission for additional brain scans, arguing that his history of head injuries and mental health problems warranted further examination. Republican Gov. Mike Braun denied the request.
Braun also rejected appeals to commute Weisheit's death sentence to life in prison.
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Weisheit's lawyers had also raised separate concerns about Indiana's planned use of execution drugs obtained from a pharmacy facing a disciplinary hearing before the Indiana Pharmacy Board next week.
The Indiana Department of Correction, however, had maintained that it was confident in its ability to carry out the execution humanely.
Following the execution, Braun said Weisheit's case had undergone repeated reviews in state and federal courts.
"These reviews have never resulted in an overturned sentence," Braun said in a statement. "Today, Weisheit's sentence has been carried out as ordered by the court."
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita also weighed in, saying the execution delivered "long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty."
The planned executions come amid renewed scrutiny of lethal injection procedures following a failed execution attempt in Tennessee in September. Death row inmate Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital and was rushed to a hospital. She has since returned to prison.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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