Of the 23 scheduled, however, it’s unlikely the eight death warrants Ohio has issued will proceed because of that state’s inability to obtain lethal injection drugs. The states with the highest number of planned executions this year include Florida (4), Texas (4), and Tennessee (4), according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Five people have already been executed, DPIC reported. Texas executed Charles Victor Thompson late last month, the year’s first execution. Florida followed right behind, executing Ronald Heath on February 10, Melvin Trotter on February 24, and Billy Leon Kearse on March 3. Florida’s fourth and last scheduled execution is set for March 17.
Among the four people Tennessee plans to kill beginning in May is Christa Pike, who was only 18 at the time of the crime for which she was convicted, and is scheduled to be executed in September. If her execution proceeds, she will be the first woman killed by the state in more than 200 years, and the only person in Tennessee in the modern era to be executed for a crime committed at 18, according to the Tennesseean.
Last year, 47 people were killed in 11 states, the highest number in America in 15 years