Indiana executes man convicted of killing two children as Florida and Alabama prepare executions

Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit early Thursday for killing his girlfriend's two children in a 2010 house fire, while Florida and Alabama prepared to carry out executions later on November 5. Weisheit, 50, received a lethal injection at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City and was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m., according to the Indiana Department of Correction.

If both remaining executions proceed, Thursday would become the second day in 2026 on which three prisoners have been executed in the United States. Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama carried out executions within hours of one another on August 13. Indiana's execution was its first this year, while Alabama's would be its third and Florida's its 19th, equaling that state's 2025 record.

Weisheit was convicted of setting the fire that killed Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, ages 8 and 5, as his relationship with their mother deteriorated. Noelle Russell, the Indiana correction department's chief communications officer, said the injection began shortly after midnight. Weisheit requested barbecue ribs as his final meal and gave no final statement.

His lawyers had requested additional brain scans, citing head injuries and mental health problems. Republican Gov. Mike Braun rejected that request and appeals to replace the death sentence with life imprisonment. Attorneys also questioned the state's use of drugs obtained from a pharmacy facing an Indiana Pharmacy Board disciplinary hearing the following week. Correction officials said they were confident the execution could be conducted humanely. Afterward, Braun cited repeated state and federal court reviews that had left the sentence intact.

Florida scheduled the execution of Jesse Guardado, 64, who confessed and pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing Jackie Malone, 75, in 2004. Malone had helped him secure work and housing. Guardado killed her at her home and stole a jewelry box, $80 and other belongings to support his drug addiction.

Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, urged Florida to stop the execution, saying Guardado had accepted responsibility and repeatedly expressed remorse. Executions in Florida have increased as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a series of death warrants since 2025. The state's 19 executions last year represented roughly 40% of the national total of 47.

Florida also accounted for more than half of the 32 executions conducted nationwide before Thursday's scheduled executions. In July, it executed two prisoners in one day, the first time a single state had done so in nearly a decade.

Alabama scheduled Michael Taylor, 54, for execution over the 1991 killings of an older couple who were beaten with a metal bar during a robbery at their home. Authorities apprehended Taylor in Birmingham, about an hour away, with the couple's Cadillac. Officials planned to use lethal injection after a judge rejected objections from his attorneys, who sought to preserve his earlier request for nitrogen gas.

Opponents of capital punishment asked Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to commute Taylor's sentence, arguing that at 19 he lacked the maturity to fully understand the consequences of his actions. Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty told The Associated Press that Taylor had become a mature and respected man. Ivey denied the clemency requests.

The executions come as lethal injection procedures face renewed scrutiny following an unsuccessful attempt to execute Christa Pike in Tennessee in September. Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital and was taken to a hospital. She has since been returned to prison.