Capital punishment: Florida executes 19th inmate as three states carry out death sentences

Florida executed its 19th inmate on Thursday, tying a state record for the most executions in a single year. The state was scheduled to perform its final procedure of the day while two other states, Indiana and Alabama, also carried out death sentences on the same date.

The convergence of three executions in one day marks the second time since August that three states have scheduled capital punishments simultaneously. The last time this alignment occurred was in 2010. Florida has accounted for more than half of the 33 executions performed in the United States so far this year.

The executions coincided with an announcement from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who stated he would commute all 548 death sentences in his state. Newsom argued that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California values. This decision contrasts with the policy of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has authorized a high volume of executions during his tenure.

DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has stated he aims to provide justice to families who have waited decades for sentences to be carried out. He signed the warrants that led to the record 19 executions in 2025. Two additional executions are scheduled for later this year, which would surpass the previous record.

The inmate executed in Florida was Jesse Guardado, 64. He confessed to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman in her Walton County home in 2004. He stole her jewelry box, $80, and other valuables to buy drugs. The victim had previously helped him secure a job and housing. A federal appeals court ruled in 2024 that Guardado received a full and fair hearing. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal on Thursday afternoon without comment.

In Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, was set to die by lethal injection later in the day. Taylor was 19 when he beat two people, aged 83 and 79, to death with a metal bar during a robbery in Gadsden in 1991. Police found his vehicle an hour away in Birmingham. Opponents urged Governor Kay Ivey to reduce his sentence to life in prison, citing his youth at the time of the crime. Ivey declined. Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty noted that the state would be killing a mature man rather than the 19-year-old who committed the crime.

Alabama switched from nitrogen gas to lethal injection after a judge declared the gas method unconstitutional. Taylor's attorneys objected to the change, but a judge ruled against them. In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the state prison in Michigan City. Noelle Russell, a spokesperson for the Department of Correction, said Weisheit offered no final words.

Weisheit had acknowledged killing his girlfriend's two children in a house fire in the Evansville area in 2010. He sought clemency from Governor Mike Braun, hoping for a life sentence. Braun declined. Lawyers also sought permission for brain scans to support claims of head injuries and mental health issues. Weisheit's final objection involved drugs purchased from a pharmacy facing a disciplinary hearing. The Indiana Supreme Court declined to intervene, though two of five justices wanted a 10-day stay for more information.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said the execution provided long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb. Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike in September has drawn renewed scrutiny to capital punishment. Nearly half of states have banned the death penalty, while a small number carry out most of the nation's executions.