Kathmandu— For the first time since 2010, three U.S. states – Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma – are preparing to carry out executions on the same day, Thursday. The inmates scheduled for execution were all convicted of murder, with each state utilizing lethal injection as the method of capital punishment. This series of executions occurs against a backdrop of declining public support for the death penalty nationwide.

Inmates Facing Execution

Anthony Darrell Hines is set to be executed in Tennessee for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins, a motel maid in Kingston Springs. He was initially sentenced to death in 1986 and again after winning a new sentencing hearing in 1989. In Alabama, Jeremy Williams, 42, will receive lethal injection for the 2021 rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland. Prosecutors stated that Williams offered the child’s mother $2,500 for her daughter to perform a sex act before raping and strangling the girl; he pleaded guilty and waived his right to appeal.

Details of the Crimes

Russell County District Attorney Richard Chancey described Williams' actions as “a level of evil,” particularly disturbed by video evidence of the crime. In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, will be executed for fatally shooting his girlfriend, Olimpia Fisher, in 2003. His execution would mark the third this year in Oklahoma and the twentieth under Republican Governor Kevin Stitt.

National Trends in Capital Punishment

The upcoming executions come as support for the death penalty continues to wane nationally. A recent Gallup poll revealed that approximately 52 percent of Americans consider the death penalty morally acceptable, the lowest percentage recorded since the 1970s. Eleven states carried out executions in 2025, and if both Tennessee and Alabama proceed with their scheduled injections, six states will have conducted executions in 2026.

Recent History of Multiple Executions

The last time three U.S. states held executions on the same day was sixteen years ago, in 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas all carried out capital punishments.

The scheduled executions are expected to proceed as planned, though public scrutiny of the death penalty remains high.

(With inputs from Al Jazeera)

Originally published on abcnews.com.np.