Florida carried out a record-tying 19th execution of the year in an unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day. Jesse Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a lethal injection at a state prison in Starke. He had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 75-year-old Jackie Malone inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, US$80 and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing. Hours earlier, Indiana executed a man for killing two children by setting a house fire in 2010, and in Alabama, a man received the last lethal injection of the day for his conviction in the killing of an elderly man and woman in a home robbery. The executions took place the same day California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced he will commute all 548 death sentences in his state, saying he believes “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values.” That contrasted sharply with the stance of Florida’s outgoing GOP governor, Ron DeSantis, who has made aggressive use of the death penalty like few other governors. His state has carried out more than half of the 35 executions so far this year in the U.S., where capital punishment has come under renewed scrutiny following Tennessee’s failed execution of Christa Pike in September. It is the second time since August that three states had conducted executions on a single day, although it remains unusual. Previously, the last time it happened was 2010. Florida inmate apologized Guardado, 64, was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the death chamber curtain went up promptly at 6:00 p.m. Asked if he had a last statement, he replied, “I would like to once again apologize for the pain and suffering I’ve caused to the victim’s family and my own family as well.” The drugs began flowing immediately afterward. About a minute later, Guardado began breathing heavily, followed by some sputtering and twitching. Soon after, a warden shook Guardado and shouted his name, but got no response and a medic then pronounced him dead. DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has said he wants to bring justice to victims’ families who have often waited decades for death sentences to be carried out. He signed the death warrants that led to a state record of 19 executions in 2025. The state is planning two more executions later this year. The victim’s son, Patrick Malone, spoke briefly to media afterward. Without directly discussing his mother or her murder, he questioned those who oppose the death penalty. “Do such people ever think about what happened to the victim or consider the unending aftermath the victim’s family endures and relives every time that terrible event comes up?” Malone said. Alabama man was condemned for a double killing In Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. local time after a lethal injection. The execution got underway shortly before 6 p.m. as Taylor replied “no sir” when asked if he had any final words. He appeared to mouth “thank you” toward his attorneys seated in the witness room. Taylor’s spiritual adviser approached and prayed with him, and he closed his eyes, never opening them again. In 1991, Taylor, then 19, fatally beat Ivan Moore, 83, and his 79-year-old wife Lucille with a metal bar during a robbery in their Gadsden, Alabama, home. Police arrested him in their Cadillac an hour away in Birmingham. Death penalty opponents had urged Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to commute Taylor’s sentence to life in prison, noting his age and immaturity then. She declined. Ivey called Taylor’s actions “reprehensible” in a statement afterward, adding the couple had opened their home to him and “Mr. Taylor repaid the Moores by beating them to death with a metal bar, all to rob them for money to buy clothing and jewelry.” She also took a jab at California’s Gov. Newsom for planning to commute all death sentences there. “California may let their criminals escape justice, but not Alabama. Here, we enforce the law and always will,” Ivey said at end of the statement. The victims’ family thanked the state attorney general’s office for bringing closure, but lamented having to wait 35 years for the death sentence to be imposed. “We know that a person has the right to appeal, but there should come a time when the jury’s decision is final. For all these years, our family has had to live with the waiting, the delays, and the uncertainty,” their statement read. “We have never forgotten our loved ones or what was taken from us.” The state switched Taylor’s execution method after a judge declared a nitrogen gas method unconstitutional. His attorneys objected since he selected nitrogen gas as his method years ago, but a judge ruled against Taylor. The defence attorneys said Taylor “knew the depth of the harm he caused” and “grieved it for the rest of his life,” adding he became a changed person in prison and that “Michael’s life was proof that God isn’t finished with any of us.” Lawyers had sought a life sentence for Indiana man In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the state prison in Michigan City, said Noelle Russell, a Department of Correction spokesperson. He had no final words. Weisheit had acknowledged killing his girlfriend’s two children in a house fire in the Evansville area in 2010 but had hoped Gov. Mike Braun would grant clemency and change his sentence to life in prison. Braun declined. The execution provided “long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty,” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said. -------- Fischer reported from Starke, Fla., and Chandler from Atmore, Ala.. AP reporter Ed White contributed from Detroit. Kim Chandler and David Fischer, The Associated Press
