Three death-row prisoners were executed in three different US states on Thursday.
In Florida, Jesse Guardado, 64, was pronounced dead at 6.13pm local time after receiving a lethal injection at the state prison in Starke.
Guardado had admitted killing 75-year-old Jackie Malone inside her Walton County home in 2004. He stabbed Malone before taking her jewellery box, $80 (£60) and other valuables to fund his drug use. Malone had previously helped him find work and secure housing.
Earlier that day, Indiana carried out the execution of 50-year-old Jeffrey Weisheit by lethal injection at the state prison in Michigan City.
Weisheit was convicted of killing Alyssa Lynch, eight, and her five-year-old brother Caleb by setting fire to his partner’s Evansville home in 2010.
Alyssa was discovered inside a closet, while Caleb was found on a mattress with duct tape restraining him. A railroad flare had been placed in his underwear and another beneath his body.
Alabama’s execution later in the day involved 54-year-old Michael Taylor, who was put to death for killing an elderly couple during a home robbery.
Taylor was 19 when he fatally attacked 83-year-old Ivan Moore and his 79-year-old wife, Lucille, with a metal bar during the 1991 robbery at their Gadsden home. Police later found him driving the couple’s Cadillac in Birmingham, about an hour away.
Jesse Guardado (pictured) was pronounced dead at 6.13pm local time on Thursday after receiving a lethal injection at a state prison in Starke, Florida
The executions came as Florida’s outgoing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, continues to use the death penalty at a rate that has set his administration apart from many others.
Florida has carried out more than half of the 35 executions conducted in the US so far this year. Capital punishment has faced fresh scrutiny since Tennessee’s unsuccessful attempt to execute Christa Pike in September.
It was only the second time since August that three states had carried out executions on the same day, an occurrence that remains rare. Before this year, the last instance was in 2010.
In Florida, Guardado was already secured to a gurney with an intravenous line in his arm when the death-chamber curtain opened at 6pm.
When asked whether he wished to make a final statement, he said: ‘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 lethal drugs were administered immediately afterward. Around a minute later, Guardado began breathing heavily, then sputtered and twitched.
A warden subsequently shook him and called his name. When Guardado did not respond, a medic pronounced him dead.
DeSantis, who is due to leave office in January, has said the executions are intended to deliver justice to victims’ relatives, many of whom have waited decades for death sentences to be carried out.
Michael Taylor was executed by lethal injection in Alabama on Thursday after being convicted of killing an elderly couple during a home robbery
He approved the death warrants that resulted in Florida carrying out a record 19 executions in 2025. Two further executions are scheduled in the state later this year.
Patrick Malone, the victim’s son, spoke briefly to reporters afterward. Without directly discussing his mother or the details of her death, he challenged those who oppose capital punishment.
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‘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.
Taylor was pronounced dead in Alabama at 6.10pm local time following the lethal injection.
The process began shortly before 6pm. When asked if he had any final words, Taylor answered, ‘no sir’.
He appeared to mouth ‘thank you’ to his lawyers in the witness room. Taylor’s spiritual adviser then prayed with him. He closed his eyes and did not open them again.
Opponents of the death penalty had asked Republican Governor Kay Ivey to reduce Taylor’s sentence to life in prison, pointing to his age and immaturity at the time of the killings. She refused.
In a statement released afterward, Ivey described Taylor’s conduct as ‘reprehensible’. She said the couple had welcomed him into their home, yet ‘Mr Taylor repaid the Moores by beating them to death with a metal bar, all to rob them for money to buy clothing and jewellery.’
Indiana executed 50-year-old Jeffrey Weisheit (pictured) by lethal injection on Thursday at a state prison in Michigan City
Ivey also criticised California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is pursuing plans to commute every death sentence in his state.
‘California may let their criminals escape justice, but not Alabama. Here, we enforce the law and always will,’ Ivey said.
The Moore family’s relatives thanked the state attorney general’s office for helping bring the case to a close, while expressing frustration that 35 years had passed before the death sentence was carried out.
‘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,’ they said in a statement.
‘We have never forgotten our loved ones or what was taken from us.’
Alabama changed the method of Taylor’s execution after a judge ruled that nitrogen gas execution was unconstitutional.
Taylor had selected nitrogen gas as his preferred method years earlier, and his lawyers challenged the switch. A judge rejected their objections.
Taylor’s defence attorneys said he ‘knew the depth of the harm he caused’ and had ‘grieved it for the rest of his life’. They said he had changed during his time in prison and that ‘Michael’s life was proof that God isn’t finished with any of us.’
In Indiana, Weisheit was pronounced dead at 12.45am local time, according to Department of Correction spokesman Noelle Russell. He did not make a final statement.
Weisheit had acknowledged killing his girlfriend’s two children by starting the house fire near Evansville in 2010. He had asked Governor Mike Braun to grant clemency and replace his death sentence with life imprisonment, but Braun declined.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita described the execution as ‘long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty’.
The three executions took place on the same day that California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced plans to commute all 548 death sentences in the state. Newsom said he believes ‘state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values’.
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