The United States carried out three executions within hours of one another Thursday, marking the country’s first triple execution in 16 years.

Three death-row inmates in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama were put to death by lethal injection in what experts described as an extremely unusual sequence.

The first two executions occurred just 30 minutes apart.

Three executions in one day
In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 77, was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. CT. He had been sentenced to death for the 2003 murder of his common-law wife, Olimpia Fisher, 43.

During a clemency hearing last month, Cuesta-Rodriguez acknowledged responsibility for the killing and told Fisher’s daughters that he believed it was time to face the consequences of his actions.

Thirty minutes later, Anthony Hines, 66, was executed in Tennessee for the 1985 killing of Catherine Jean Jenkins, a 54-year-old motel worker and mother of four.

Hines admitted stealing Jenkins’ vehicle and taking money from her, but continued to deny that he was responsible for her death.

Third execution involved the killing of a child
Later that evening, Alabama executed Jeremy Williams, 42, for the 2021 murder and sexual assault of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland.

Authorities said Williams took the child from her home in Georgia after arranging a payment with the girl’s mother.

The child’s mother, Kristy Siple, later pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges involving her daughter and received a 20-year prison sentence.

Williams was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. CT.

First triple execution since 2010
Triple executions are extremely rare in the United States. The last time three states carried out executions on the same day was January 7, 2010, when inmates were executed in Ohio, Texas and Louisiana.

Death-penalty observers say the scheduling of multiple executions on the same day is generally a coincidence rather than the result of coordinated planning.

The unusual sequence comes just weeks after Florida carried out two executions on the same day — the state’s first double execution in nearly a decade.

With Thursday’s three executions, the United States has once again seen an exceptionally rare moment in its modern death-penalty history.