By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press
(AP) — 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 on July 31st. Florida also was the last state to execute someone, when Michael Bernard Bell died by lethal injection on July 15th.
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.
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Associated Press reporter Kim Chandler contributed.
