Indiana carries out first of 3 U.S. executions set for Thursday
An Indiana man was executed early Thursday in the first of three lethal injections scheduled for Thursday in the U.S., which would mark the second time this year that three people in the U.S. were put to death on the same day.
On Thursday, Indiana carried out its first of three scheduled U.S. executions, marking the second time this year that three people in the country would be put to death on the same day. Jeffrey Weisheit, who admitted to setting fire to his girlfriend's house in 2010, killing her two children, ages 8 and 5, was executed in Indiana State Prison, Michigan City. The lethal injection began just after midnight and Weisheit was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. He had no final words and his final meal consisted of barbecue ribs.
Florida and Alabama were set to carry out executions later that same day, with Florida marking its 19th execution of the year under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, setting a record previously held by the state in 2025. This would be the first execution in Indiana this year, following a failed execution in Tennessee due to a botched lethal injection.
Death penalty advocates argued for brain scans on Weisheit due to his history of head injuries and mental health issues, but Governor Mike Braun denied the request and also rejected a plea for life in prison.
Indiana's Attorney General Todd Rokita stated that the execution provided long-awaited justice for the two innocent children whose lives were taken in a brutal act of violence. Florida's execution involved Jesse Guardado, who confessed to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman in Walton County in 2004 and stealing her jewelry and valuables.
The federal appeals court in 2024 ruled that Guardado received a fair trial during the death penalty phase. In Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, faces execution for a 1989 robbery in which he beat an elderly couple with a metal bar. Death penalty opponents had urged Governor Kay Ivey to commute his sentence to life in prison, but she declined.
Taylor's execution would be the third in Alabama this year, following a change in the execution method to lethal injection after a judge deemed the nitrogen gas method unconstitutional.
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