Five executions were carried out in eight days. Why the death penalty is increasingly used

This year, U.S. courts have ordered the execution of 34 men, with another eight men scheduled to be executed before the deadline, five of whom will die in the next eight days.

The total number of executions this year has significantly exceeded the 25 carried out last year. That would likely be the highest number since 2012, when 43 prisoners were executed, but still well below the modern peak of 98 executions in 1999.

The surge in executions has been driven primarily by four states: Florida, Texas, Alabama and South Carolina, which accounted for 76% of court-ordered executions this year.

“This is not a nationwide increase in executions, it really depends on what’s going on in a handful of states,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Chief among them is Florida, which carried out just one execution last year and has now carried out 13 executions. The increase in executions comes as President Donald Trump urges governors to expand its use.

“Governor DeSantis is scheduling all of these executions with complete autonomy and complete confidentiality,” Maher said.

DeSantis’ office has not responded to questions about why the governor is now speeding up executions and whether Trump’s policies are having a role.

This year, executions have taken place in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

All of these states, except Arizona, are run by Republican governors.

Here’s a breakdown of executions for the rest of the year by state:

Indiana

Roy Lee Ward will be executed by lethal injection early Friday, the state’s third execution since it reinstated the death penalty last year.

Ward, 53, was convicted of the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne.

Attorneys said Ward was remorseful and had exhausted legal options after multiple court battles.

Lance C. Shockley is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.

Shockley, 48, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham outside his home in Carter County in 2005.

Authorities said Graham was killed because he was investigating Shockley for manslaughter and left the scene of the accident.

Florida

Samuel Lee Smithers will receive a lethal injection Tuesday night.

Smithers, 72, was convicted of the 1996 slayings of two women in a country pond. Authorities said he met two victims, Christy Cowan and Denise Roach, at a Tampa motel on separate dates and paid them for sexual favors.

Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 28. He was convicted of raping and killing neighbor Cynthia Campbell, whose body was found in 1998 near the Pensacola Bay Bridge.

Smithers’ and Grimm’s executions would be Florida’s 14th and 15th executions in 2025, further extending the state’s record for executions in a year. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the state’s previous record was eight in 2014.

mississippi

Charles Ray Crawford is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the 1993 kidnapping and murder of a college student.

Crawford, 59, was sentenced to death for kidnapping 20-year-old community college student Kristy Ray from her parents’ home in Tippah County in northern Mississippi and stabbing her to death. Crawford told police he had passed out and did not remember killing her.

Texas

Robert Roberson was scheduled to receive a lethal injection on October 16, but his high-profile case was put on hold Thursday by the Texas Supreme Criminal Court.

Robertson, 58, was set to become the first person to be executed in the United States after being convicted of murder after being diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome.

Prosecutors in Robertson’s 2003 trial argued that Robertson beat his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, and violently shook her, causing severe head trauma that killed her.

But Robertson said he never abused the girl. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers believes Robertson is innocent and is seeking a new trial.

Robertson’s attorney and some medical experts said his daughter died from complications related to pneumonia. They say his conviction was based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence.

Arizona

Richard Kenneth Jelf will be executed by lethal injection on October 17 for killing a family of four in their Phoenix home.

Zeref, 55, pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in the 1993 slayings of Albert Luna Sr., his wife, Patricia, their 18-year-old daughter, Rochelle, and their 5-year-old son, Damien.

Prosecutors said Jeff blamed another Luna family member for an earlier theft of home electronics from his apartment and became obsessed with revenge.

alabama

Anthony Todd Boyd is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on October 23.

A judge sentenced Boyd to death for his role in the 1993 killing of Gregory Huguley at Talladega. Prosecutors said Boyd tied Huguly’s feet together before another man doused him with gasoline and set him on fire over a $200 cocaine debt.

Boyd has long maintained his innocence, saying he never participated in the killings.

tennessee

Harold Nichols is scheduled to be executed on December 11.

Nichols, 64, was convicted of rape and first-degree felony murder in the 1988 death of 21-year-old Karen Pooley in Hamilton County. Authorities say he broke into Pooley’s home, raped her and hit her multiple times in the head with a wooden board.

Nichols was scheduled to be executed in August 2020, but the execution was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.