Florida, Indiana, and Alabama each carried out a lethal injection on Thursday, the second time in 2026 that three executions occurred on the same day, according to the Western Journal’s report summarizing news coverage and official statements.
Indiana: Weisheit executed; lawyers question drug source
CBS News reported that Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was executed in Indiana after admitting he set fire to his girlfriend’s home in 2010, killing her two children, ages 8 and 5. Fox News, as cited by the Western Journal, reported Weisheit’s attorneys raised concerns about the state’s plan to use execution drugs from a pharmacy slated to face a disciplinary hearing before Indiana’s pharmacy board. The Indiana Department of Correction said the execution would be carried out “humanely” and that Weisheit had received a fair appeals process, according to the same report.
“These reviews have never resulted in an overturned sentence,” Republican Gov. Mike Braun said in a statement. “Today, Weisheit’s sentence has been carried out as ordered by the court.”
Florida: Guardado apologizes before lethal injection
The Western Journal reported that Florida executed Jesse Guardado, 64, who pleaded guilty to the 2004 stabbing death of 75-year-old Jackie Malone, a woman who had helped him find housing and employment. According to an X post by @TheLinzerShow cited in the article, Guardado’s final words were: “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 same post said this was Florida’s 19th execution of 2026, tying the state’s annual record.
Alabama: Taylor executed for 1991 double murder
Alabama executed Michael Shannon Taylor, 54, for murdering Ivan and Lucille Moore, ages 83 and 79, during a 1991 robbery, the Western Journal reported. An X post by @TheLinzerShow cited in the article stated Taylor’s final words were “No, sir.”
Context: earlier multi-state executions, a botched attempt, and California commutations
The Western Journal noted the only other time in 2026 that three states conducted executions on the same day was Aug. 13 in Alabama, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.
Just over a month earlier, Tennessee botched the execution of Christa Pike, who did not die after two injections of pentobarbital and was hospitalized before being returned to prison, the Western Journal reported. Following the incident, the state’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee halted all executions for the remainder of 2026, according to the same report.
Separately, the Western Journal reported that California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he would use executive authority to commute death sentences for 548 prisoners to life without the possibility of parole. “I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” Newsom wrote in an open letter, per the article. Newsom previously imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019, and California has not executed anyone since 2006, according to the report. The article also noted he is term-limited and set to leave office in January.
