If there was ever a death penalty case, it’s Bryan Kohberger: Nancy Grace
Renowned host Nancy Grace, well-known for ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,’ recently joined Sean Hannity in a fervent discussion regarding Bryan Kohberger’s efforts to reopen his case linked to the Idaho college killings. With unwavering determination, Grace dismissed Kohberger’s claims of innocence, emphasizing the damning presence of his DNA on the sheath of the murder weapon and his earlier guilty plea.
In an unprecedented alignment, three men in different states across the U.S. face lethal injection executions on the same Thursday, marking a rare occurrence of synchronized execution dates.
Tennessee is preparing to execute Anthony Darrell Hines for the murder of a motel cleaning staff member. Meanwhile, Alabama plans to execute Jeremy Williams, convicted of raping and killing a 5-year-old after paying the child’s mother $2,500 for an unspeakable act. In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez awaits execution for the murder of his girlfriend.
According to the Associated Press, the last time three states carried out executions on the same day was January 7, 2010, with prisoners executed in Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas.
Although there was also an attempt to conduct three executions on a single day in 2018, only one was carried out. Alabama faced difficulties in establishing an IV line, and Texas issued a reprieve, disrupting the planned executions.
In this photo released 02 February by the Texas Department of Corrections, is the gurney used to execute prisoners by lethal injection; called the Death Chamber, the gurney is housed in the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas. (Texas Department of Corrections//AFP via Getty Images)
Florida executed two men in one day in July, bringing its total number of executions since the beginning of 2025 to 31.
Eleven states carried out executions last year. If Tennessee and Alabama proceed Thursday, six states will have put prisoners to death in 2026.
Hines, 66, is set to die for the 1985 killing of Catherine Jean Jenkins, a 54-year-old motel maid in Kingston Springs. Prosecutors said Hines stabbed Jenkins while she was at work.
Tennessee death row inmate Anthony Darrell Hines is scheduled to be executed Thursday for the 1985 killing of motel maid Catherine Jean Jenkins. (TDOC Communications via AP)
He was first sentenced to death in 1986, won a new sentencing hearing on appeal and was sentenced to death again in 1989.
His execution is scheduled three months after Tennessee stopped another inmate’s lethal injection when officials could not establish an IV line.
Hines has asked the governor and the courts to intervene, arguing that the doctor involved in the May procedure was unqualified and could cause the same problems during his execution. He also said muscular atrophy and weight loss after two strokes could make it difficult to place an IV.
Officials were able to establish Tony Carruthers’ first IV line quickly during the May attempt. But they spent more than an hour trying to place a second line, his lawyer said after witnessing the procedure. The team tried Carruthers’ arm, hand and foot before moving to a central line.
Lee stopped Carruthers’ execution and delayed it for a year. Tennessee has not said whether the doctor involved in that procedure will participate in Hines’ execution.
Alabama death row inmate Jeremy Williams is scheduled to be executed Thursday for the 2021 rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland. (Russell County Sheriff’s Office)
In Alabama, Williams is set to be executed for the 2021 rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland of Georgia.
Williams pleaded guilty, gave up his appeals and asked to be put to death.
Prosecutors said the 42-year-old paid Holland’s mother $2,500 before sexually assaulting and strangling the girl. They said he recorded the attack and kept her body so he could continue abusing it.
“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. “It’s just a level of evil.”
Williams was also investigated in Alaska in 2005 in connection with his infant daughter’s death, though no charges were filed until 2022.
Alabama has not carried out an execution this year. If Williams is put to death, he would be the first. A federal judge halted a planned nitrogen gas execution in the state back in June after finding the method unconstitutional.
Oklahoma death row inmate Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez is scheduled to be executed Thursday for the 2003 killing of his girlfriend, Olimpia Fisher. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP)
Oklahoma is also scheduled to execute Cuesta-Rodriguez on Thursday for the 2003 murder of his girlfriend, Olimpia Fisher, at their Oklahoma City home.
Cuesta-Rodriguez has expressed regret over Fisher’s death but did not ask for clemency.
Fisher was preparing to leave Cuesta-Rodriguez when he shot her through one eye. He left her to scream for help for about eight minutes, then shot her through the other eye, killing her.
“He made her suffer because she dared to live beyond his control,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond told the state’s Pardon and Parole Board on July 14.
The board rejected clemency in a 3-1 vote last month. Cuesta-Rodriguez’s lawyers had urged the board to let him remain in prison for life, pointing to his difficult childhood in Cuba, brain damage, post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression.
If Oklahoma carries out the execution, Cuesta-Rodriguez would be the state’s third execution this year and the 20th under Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.