US executions: three states set to execute inmates

Tennessee, Oklahoma and Alabama are each set to execute a death row inmate on Thursday, in what the Death Penalty Information Center said would be the first day with three scheduled US executions since 2010.

Tennessee is set to execute Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines, 66, for murdering a woman in 1985, according to US media. Oklahoma is due to put Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, to death after he was found guilty of murder in a 2003 shooting. Alabama plans to execute Jeremy Williams, 42, who was convicted of raping and killing a five-year-old.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states. California, Oregon and Pennsylvania have moratoriums in place.

There were 47 executions in the United States last year, the highest number since 2009, when 52 inmates were put to death. Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas with five each.

Thirty-nine of last year's executions were carried out by lethal injection. Three were by firing squad and five by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.

President Donald Trump has called for expanding the use of the death penalty “for the vilest crimes”. The Department of Justice proposed in April to broaden execution methods to include firing squads, gas and electrocution.

The United Nations has denounced the use of nitrogen gas as a cruel and inhumane method of capital punishment.