The U.S. has officially had its most prolific day of capital punishment in over a decade.
According to multiple reports, a trio of states executed inmates, marking the first such day that three people were executed since 2010.
The three states were Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma, according to The Associated Press.
All three executions were to be performed by lethal injection.
Three states each executed death row inmates on Thursday, Aug. 13, marking the first triple execution in the nation in 16 years.
Like the majority of inmates on death row, the three men executed on Thursday all killed women or girls. Of 94 executions held since 2024 − including… pic.twitter.com/JJIZPrBLjG
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 13, 2026
Thursday’s triple execution comes amid a rise in capital punishment, particularly among a small handful of states, including Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma.
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“You look at the country as a whole, you’ve just got this little pocket of five or six states that are using the death penalty, executing people, and a small number of states that are still imposing new death sentences,” Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told The Associated Press.
Maher also did note, however, that Thursday’s rare occurrence was more a scheduling quirk than anything else, though still described the event as “very unusual.”
According to USA Today, all three men executed Thursday were convicted of murder.
In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was executed after being convicted of murdering his common-law wife in 2003. Cuesta-Rodriguez was the first inmate to be executed of the three, having died at 10:13 a.m. Central Time.
In Tennessee, Anthony Hines was executed for the 1985 murder of a mother of four. He died just 30 minutes after Cuesta-Rodriguez.
Lastly, in Alabama, Jeremy Williams was executed for the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl. He was executed Thursday evening.
Three men in three different states face lethal injection on the same day Thursday — a rare convergence of executions across Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma.
Anthony Darrell Hines is set to die for stabbing a motel maid to death in 1985. Jeremy Williams pleaded guilty to raping… pic.twitter.com/yhjDtBBmFz
— Fox News US (@FoxUSNews) August 13, 2026
USA Today noted that there is a strong correlation between harming women and girls — as all three executed inmates on Thursday did — and receiving the death penalty. Of the 94 executions that have happened since 2024, 64 percent of the victims were women or girls.
Capital punishment in America has steadily been on the rise, according to The Associated Press.
There were 47 executions across 11 states in 2025, the highest figure on record since 2009.
Florida accounted for the largest percentage of those 2025 executions, leading the nation with 19.
Behind the Sunshine State, the trio of Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, are tied for second, with five executions apiece.
Tennessee had three, while Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arizona and Indiana each carried out a pair of executions.
Louisiana and Missouri each carried out a single execution.
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