Twenty-six men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and 10 other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025.
The next scheduled execution is in Florida, when a man who killed his wife and two children is set to be put to death July 31. Florida also was the last state to execute someone, when Michael Bernard Bell died by lethal injection on July 15.
Meanwhile, Florida recently set its 10th execution of the year when Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for a man who abducted a woman from an insurance office and killed her 42 years ago. Kayle Bates is scheduled to be executed in August.
Alabama, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and Utah also have scheduled executions for later this year.
Executions have been carried out this year in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 executions carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death.
The uptick in executions can be traced to aggressive Republican governors and attorney generals pushing to get through lengthy appeals processes and get executions done, said John Blume, the director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project.
A sweeping executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day back in office aimed at urging prosecutors to seek the death penalty and preserving capital punishment in the states also may have fueled the increase, Blume said.
All but one execution this year has occurred in states run by Republican governors, with Arizona the exception.
Here’s a look at recent executions and those scheduled for the rest of the year, by state:
Edward J. Zakrzewski is scheduled to be put to death in Florida on July 31 for killing his wife and two young children in 1994 after she sought a divorce.
He eventually turned himself into law enforcement after the case was profiled on the television show “Unsolved Mysteries.”
Bates, 67, who is scheduled to be executed Aug. 19, was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery in the June 14, 1982, Bay County killing of Janet White.
Byron Black, 69, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Aug. 5. Black was convicted in 1989 of three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of his girlfriend, Angela Clay, and her two daughters in Nashville.
Black’s lawyer asked a judge to require the Tennessee Department of Correction to deactivate an implanted defibrillation device similar to a pacemaker in the moments before his execution.
A Tennessee judge ruled Tuesday that the state can deactivate the heart-regulating device at a hospital on the morning of his execution, rather than bringing a doctor or technician into the execution chamber.
Black’s motion related to his heart device came within a general challenge he and other death row inmates filed against the state’s new execution protocol, which took effect this year. The trial isn’t until 2026.
Harold Nichols, 64, is also scheduled to die by lethal injection on Dec. 11. Nichols was convicted of rape and first-degree felony murder in the 1988 death of Karen Pulley in Hamilton County.
An Alabama judge has postponed the execution of David Lee Roberts, who had been scheduled to be put to death by nitrogen gas Aug. 21.
Roberts was convicted of killing Annetra Jones in 1992 while he was a houseguest at Jones’ boyfriend’s home in Marion County. Prosecutors said Roberts packed his belongings, stole money and shot Jones three times in the head while she slept on the couch. Roberts set fire to the home to hide evidence.
A Marion County judge issued a stay so Roberts can have a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is too mentally ill to be put to death. The execution will be on hold at least until a report from the Alabama Department of Mental Health is finished.
Geoffrey T. West, 49, is scheduled to die by nitrogen gas on Sept. 25 for the killing of convenience store clerk Margaret Parrish Berry during a 1997 robbery in Attalla.
If carried out, it would be the nation’s sixth execution by nitrogen gas, a method Alabama began using last year as an alternative to lethal injection. The method involves supplying nitrogen gas via a respirator mask to an inmate, causing the person to lose consciousness and die from a lack of oxygen.
Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is scheduled to die by firing squad on Sept. 5. He would become only the sixth U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad since 1977.
Menzies, who has dementia, has been on death row for 37 years for abducting and killing mother of three Maurine Hunsaker, 26, in 1986.
Judge Matthew Bates signed the death warrant a month after he ruled Menzies “consistently and rationally” understands why he is facing execution despite recent cognitive decline. Attorneys for Menzies have petitioned the court for a reassessment.
Blaine Milam, 35, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Sept. 25. Milam was convicted of killing his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter during what the couple had said was part of an “exorcism” in Rusk County in East Texas in 2008.
Milam’s girlfriend, Jesseca Carson, was also convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Robert Roberson is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 16.
Roberson, 58, could become the first person in the U.S. to be put to death for a murder conviction tied to shaken baby syndrome. He was convicted of the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine.
Prosecutors argued he violently shook his daughter back and forth, causing severe head trauma. His lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia.
Indiana set a tentative execution date of Oct. 10 for Roy Lee Ward, who was convicted of raping and killing a 15-year-old girl in 2001. But that date could change.
Lance C. Shockley is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 14, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.
Shockley was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Dewayne Graham outside his home in Carter County in 2005.
Testimony at the trial indicated Graham was killed because he was investigating Shockley for involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident.
Earlier this year, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine postponed five executions scheduled for 2025. All five have been delayed until 2028.
In postponing the executions, DeWine has cited the state’s inability to secure the drugs used in lethal injections due to pharmaceutical suppliers’ unwillingness.
DeWine has said that he does not anticipate any further executions will happen during his term, which runs through 2026.
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Associated Press reporter Kim Chandler contributed.
