Darrell Hines, Jeremy Williams and Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I President Donald Trump has been a big advocate of the death penalty, saying that its a better way of retribution and describing capital punishment as “an essential tool” for deterring and punishing people who commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against Americans.
Now, the punishment appears to be gaining renewed momentum in the United States, with three men convicted of murder in different states scheduled to face execution on the same day.
The planned executions of Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, in Tennessee, Jeremy Williams, 41, in Alabama, and Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 71, in Oklahoma are a striking reminder of the growing use of capital punishment across the country.
It has been 16 years since three people were executed on the same day in the US. The latest executions come amid a sharp increase in the number of people being put to death.
In 2025, 47 executions were carried out across 11 states, compared with 25 in 2024. The 2025 figure was more than four times the number recorded in 2021, even as juries and sections of the American public have become increasingly wary of capital punishment.
Trump has played a major role in restoring the federal government’s support for executions. During his first term, he ended a nearly two-decade federal moratorium in 2020, ordering 13 executions over a six-month period.
Although President Joe Biden restored the moratorium, Trump reversed course on the first day of his second term in 2025, signing an executive order reinstating the death penalty at the federal level.
No federal execution has been carried out since the order, but Trump’s administration has taken several steps to make capital punishment easier to implement. The Justice Department has expanded execution protocols to include methods such as firing squads and restored lethal-injection procedures while also streamlining the processing of death-penalty cases.
Trump’s order also encouraged states to pursue the death penalty in cases involving the killing of law-enforcement officers and directed the attorney general to ensure states have adequate supplies of lethal-injection drugs.
However, Justin Mazzola, deputy director for research at Amnesty International USA, cautioned that Trump’s full impact may not become clear for years because death-penalty cases involve lengthy trials and appeals.
Much of the current increase, meanwhile, is being driven by individual states, particularly Florida.
Florida accounted for about 40% of executions in 2025. In 2026, it has again dominated, accounting for 12 of the 19 executions carried out by the middle of the year.
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, attributes Florida’s exceptional figures largely to Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis has supported laws making executions easier. In 2023, Florida reduced the jury threshold for recommending a death sentence from unanimous agreement among 12 jurors to eight.
The state has also made sexual battery against a child under 12 a capital offence.
DeSantis has defended capital punishment as a strong deterrent and an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders.
Because states have broad authority over criminal prosecutions, governors wield significant influence over executions. Florida is particularly unusual because its governor can sign death warrants for prisoners who have exhausted their appeals without court oversight.
The renewed executions therefore reflect not only Trump’s national influence, but also a broader push by some state leaders to make capital punishment easier to impose.
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