By Lucretia Hughes Klucken
Three convicted murderers were executed by lethal injection Thursday in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama, marking the first time in 16 years that three U.S. states carried out executions on the same day.
Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, Anthony Darrell Hines and Jeremy Tremaine Williams were put to death Aug. 13 for three separate crimes that claimed the lives of two women and a 5-year-old girl.
The scheduling was reportedly coincidental, but the rare convergence reflects an increase in the use of capital punishment across a small group of states.
The last time three executions occurred on the same day was Jan. 7, 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio and Texas each executed a convicted murderer.
Twenty-two executions have now been carried out in the United States during 2026, according to The Associated Press. Nearly a dozen additional executions are scheduled. Eleven states executed 47 people in 2025, the highest annual number since 2009.
Behind Thursday’s historic statistic, however, are the names of the victims: Olimpia Fisher, Catherine Jean Jenkins and 5-year-old Kamarie Holland.
Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez
Oklahoma executed Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for the 2003 murder of his girlfriend, Olimpia Fisher.
Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. Central time.
Prosecutors said Cuesta-Rodriguez abused and stalked Fisher before killing her inside their Oklahoma City home. Fisher, a 43-year-old mother of two, was planning to leave him.
According to the Oklahoma attorney general’s office, Cuesta-Rodriguez shot Fisher through one eye while her pregnant 18-year-old daughter was nearby. He then waited approximately eight minutes as Fisher cried for help before firing a second, fatal shot through her other eye.
Police officers were outside the home but were unable to enter immediately because metal security bars blocked the entrance.
Cuesta-Rodriguez declined to deliver a formal final statement. He looked toward two relatives witnessing the execution and mouthed that he loved them.
His attorneys cited his difficult childhood in Cuba, mental-health problems, brain damage and post-traumatic stress disorder while seeking mercy. Cuesta-Rodriguez, however, told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he did not want or deserve clemency. The board voted 3-1 against recommending it.
Fisher’s daughters did not attend the execution. In a statement, they said their Christian faith allowed them to forgive and expressed hope that their mother’s death would raise awareness about domestic violence.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said justice had been served after 23 years of grief for Fisher’s family.
Tennessee executes Anthony Darrell Hines
Less than 30 minutes later, Tennessee executed Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins.
Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. Central time at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Jenkins, 54, was working as a maid at a Kingston Springs motel when Hines attacked, sexually assaulted and repeatedly stabbed her.
Her son, Dennis Jenkins, said his mother had only a plastic spray bottle with which to defend herself against Hines’ knife.
Hines initially declined to offer final words but then asked that a message be delivered to his son, who witnessed the execution. The two had reportedly reconnected four days earlier after not seeing each other since the son was 3 years old.
The execution occurred three months after Tennessee abandoned another lethal-injection attempt when medical personnel could not establish the required backup intravenous line. Hines’ attorneys argued that his execution could also be mishandled and unsuccessfully sought intervention from the courts and Gov. Bill Lee.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop the execution, and Lee chose not to grant clemency.
Witnesses reported hearing Hines groan and breathe heavily as his spiritual adviser placed her hands on his shoulders and prayed.
His execution came more than four decades after Jenkins was murdered.
Alabama executes Jeremy Williams
Alabama carried out the final execution Thursday evening, putting Jeremy Tremaine Williams to death for the 2021 rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland.
Williams, 42, was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. Central time at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
Prosecutors said Williams offered Kamarie’s mother $2,500 to sexually abuse the child. He then raped, filmed and strangled the little girl. Her body was discovered in an abandoned home in Phenix City, Alabama, near the Georgia state line.
Kamarie’s mother later pleaded guilty to human sex trafficking and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Williams pleaded guilty in 2024 to four counts of capital murder. He waived further appeals and repeatedly asked the state to carry out his death sentence quickly, writing that Kamarie’s family deserved closure.
In his final statement, Williams thanked God for forgiving his sins and said he hoped to meet Him in peace.
Gov. Kay Ivey declined to intervene, saying Williams committed one of the most disturbing crimes in Alabama’s history.
Kamarie’s father remembered his daughter as an energetic little girl who loved princesses, costumes and playing dress-up.
Remember the victims—not merely the condemned
The death penalty remains one of America’s most deeply debated moral and legal issues. Opponents argue that government should never take a life and warn about wrongful convictions, unequal sentencing and problems surrounding execution procedures. Supporters maintain that capital punishment is a lawful and appropriate response to the most calculated and horrific murders.
Those arguments will continue.
But Thursday’s story should not focus solely on the three men who entered execution chambers. Their names will dominate headlines, while the people whose lives they stole risk becoming secondary details.
Olimpia Fisher was a mother attempting to escape an abusive relationship.
Catherine Jean Jenkins was a 54-year-old woman doing her job when she was brutally attacked.
Kamarie Holland was only 5 years old. She loved princesses and deserved an entire lifetime ahead of her.
Justice may take decades, but the victims must never be forgotten. Their names—and the families forced to live with the devastation—should remain at the center of this story.
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