In a rare occurrence not seen since 2010, three men faced execution in a single day across three states—Alabama, Tennessee, and Oklahoma—to account for their crimes.
The individuals, Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez at 70, Anthony Darrell Hines at 66, and Jeremy Williams at 42, were convicted murderers, meeting their fates through lethal injection on August 13.
Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez
Cuesta-Rodriguez faced execution at 10:13 a.m. CDT at McAlester’s Oklahoma State Penitentiary. His sentence was the result of killing his girlfriend, Olimpia Fisher, in 2003. This information stems from a statement by an Oklahoma Department of Corrections representative.
While Cuesta-Rodriguez refrained from last verbal declarations, he did silently express love to his family. For his final meal, he chose a Cuban sandwich, Rocky Road ice cream, donuts, and water.
The 2010 ruling from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals revealed that a morning dispute between Cuesta-Rodriguez and Fisher escalated, ending tragically with Fisher being shot in the eye.
Responding officers could hear Fisher “screaming and banging on a bedroom window as if she was trying to escape,” according to the opinion. “While attempting to get through the front door, officers heard a gunshot and Fisher’s screams stopped.”
The jury found “that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel,” according to the opinion, “and that Cuesta-Rodriguez presented a continuing threat to society.”
Cuesta-Rodriguez said he did not want or deserve clemency during a July hearing.
“I have been living with this remorse for 23 years,” he told the parole board in Spanish, communicating through a translator. “I can’t have been in my right mind to have done something so horrific.”
Anthony Darrell Hines
Hines was executed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn. at 10:43 a.m. CDT for the 1985 stabbing death of motel worker Catherine Jean Jenkins.
For his last meal, Hines requested fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, a chicken sandwich, corn, coleslaw, fries, biscuits and sweet tea, according to a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada said Hines’ last words were “Tell my son hello,” the spokesperson confirmed to Oxygen.
Jenkins was working at the CeBon Motel in Kingston Springs when Hines killed her. Her body was found wrapped inside a sheet at the room she had been cleaning, according to a Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals opinion. Her clothing was torn and cut, and a $20 bill had been placed under her watch wristband.
In the days leading up to his execution, Hines requested clemency, but Gov. Bill Lee declined to take action, according to CNN.
After his execution, his attorney, Katherine Dix, expressed grief for Jenkins’ family while describing Hines as “a child of God” who endured childhood abuse.
Jeremy Williams
Williams was executed at 6:16 p.m. CT at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, according to an announcement from the Office of the Attorney General.
Prosecutors said Williams filmed himself raping and strangling 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in 2021. He then abused her body after death, the Associated Press reported.
“To see on video what he did to this baby, what a grown man could do to a child, it’s shocking, it’s horrible, it’s disgusting,” Russell County District Attorney Richard Chancey said, per the AP. “It’s just a level of evil.”