Indiana carries out first of 3 U.S. executions set for Thursday

An Indiana man who admitted killing his girlfriend's two children was executed early Thursday in the first of three lethal injections scheduled for the same day in the U.S. Jeffrey Weisheit killed the children, ages 8 and 5, by setting fire to his girlfriend's house in the Evansville area in 2010. Weisheit died at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The lethal injection started just after midnight and he was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m., according to Noelle Russell, Indiana Department of Correction chief communications officer. She said Weisheit's final meal was barbecue ribs and he had no final words. Florida and Alabama were also set to carry out executions Thursday, which would mark the second time this year that three people in the U.S.

would be put to death on the same day.Alabama, Tennessee and Oklahoma conducted executions on Aug. 13. It would be Florida's 19th execution this year under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, matching a record set by the state in 2025, but was the first this year in Indiana. The death penalty has faced renewed scrutiny following the September failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, although courts have rejected efforts to halt other executions since she survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital.Pike said in a statement dictated to her lawyers and released a