Christa Pike failed execution attempt sparks legal battle
Attorneys battle over preserving evidence after death row inmate Christa Pike’s failed lethal injection execution in Tennessee. Her legal team is seeking to secure medical records and physical evidence related to the attempt.
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Florida, Alabama and Indiana are set to carry out executions Thursday, which would mark the second time this year that three death row inmates have been put to death on the same day.
The first such day this year took place on August 13, when Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama executed three inmates within hours of each other.
In Florida, Thursday’s execution would be the state’s 19th of 2026, matching the record set last year. Alabama is preparing for its third execution of the year, while Indiana is set to carry out its first.
Jesse Guardado, 64, is scheduled to be executed in Florida after confessing and pleading guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman who had helped him find a job and housing in 2004.
FLORIDA PUTS 77-YEAR-OLD MAN TO DEATH FOR DEPUTY’S MURDER AS STATE CLOSES IN ON EXECUTION RECORD
Jesse Guardado, Michael Taylor and Jeffrey Weisheit are facing execution on the same day. (Florida, Alabama and Indiana Departments of Corrections)
Guardado killed Jackie Malone inside her home before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other items to fund his drug addiction.
“Jesse Guardado has accepted responsibility for killing Jackie Malone and has consistently expressed deep remorse. Florida should accept responsibility for what it did to him as a child, too,” Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said in a statement while urging the state to halt the execution.
Florida has ramped up executions as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a series of death warrants since 2025. The state carried out a record 19 executions last year, more than under any other Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Those executions accounted for roughly 40% of the 47 carried out nationwide in 2025.
Florida has also accounted for more than half of the 32 executions carried out nationwide so far in 2026. In July, Florida executed two prisoners on the same day, marking the first double execution by a single state in nearly a decade.
In Alabama, Michael Taylor, 54, is scheduled to be executed for the 1991 murders of an older couple who were beaten to death with a metal bar during a robbery inside their home. Authorities caught Taylor in Birmingham, about an hour away, with the victims’ Cadillac.
Alabama officials plan to execute Taylor by lethal injection after a judge ruled against his attorneys’ objections to the method. Taylor had previously requested execution by nitrogen gas, and his attorneys sought to preserve that choice.
ALABAMA GOVERNOR COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE AS DOUBTS EMERGE ABOUT EVIDENCE IN MURDER CONVICTION
Attorney Kacey Keeton speaks at an event on Nov. 2, 2026, at the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, opposing the scheduled execution of Michael Taylor. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
Death penalty opponents urged Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to commute Taylor’s sentence to life in prison, arguing that he was too young and immature at 19 to fully appreciate the consequences of his actions.
“If the state kills Michael, it is not the 19-year-old who made the worst mistake of his life who it kills. But the mature, well-respected, God-fearing man sitting in that cell today,” Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty told The Associated Press.
Ivey rejected the clemency requests, clearing the way for Taylor’s scheduled execution.
In Indiana, Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, faces execution for setting a 2010 house fire that killed his girlfriend’s two children, ages 8 and 5, as the couple’s relationship deteriorated.
His attorneys sought permission for additional brain scans, arguing that his history of head injuries and mental health problems warranted further examination. Republican Gov. Mike Braun denied the request.
Braun also rejected appeals to commute Weisheit’s death sentence to life in prison.
FLORIDA EXECUTES INMATE WHO KILLED CELLMATE BECAUSE HE WANTED DEATH PENALTY
This would mark the second time this year that three people are put to death on the same day. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Weisheit’s lawyers have raised separate concerns about Indiana’s planned use of execution drugs obtained from a pharmacy facing a disciplinary hearing before the Indiana Pharmacy Board next week.
The Indiana Department of Correction, however, said it remains confident that it can “humanely” carry out the execution.
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The planned executions come amid renewed scrutiny of lethal injection procedures following a failed execution attempt in Tennessee in September. Death row inmate Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital and was rushed to a hospital. She has since returned to prison.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
