Two US inmates were executed Thursday in separate states, with one put to death by nitrogen gas in Alabama and another by lethal injection in Texas. The executions, carried out within 18 minutes of each other, bring the total number of US executions this year to 33, the highest since 2014.In Alabama, Geoffrey West, 50, was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. US Central Time for the 1997 murder of Margaret Berry, 33, a mother of two, during a gas station robbery in Attalla. In his final statement, provided to USA TODAY by his attorneys, West apologized and reflected on faith, saying, “I am at peace because I know where I am going and look forward to seeing Mrs. Berry when I get there… I urge everyone, especially young people, to find God.“Berry’s son, Will Berry, who was 11 when his mother was killed, had sought a reprieve, expressing a wish to meet West before his execution. “I believe that in seeking to execute Mr. West, the state of Alabama is playing God,” he wrote in an opinion piece. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey declined to commute the sentence, citing the state’s legal duty to punish egregious crimes. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said, “Margaret did not have to senselessly die… Justice is how we restore peace to the communities they leave behind.”Just 18 minutes later in Texas, Blaine Milam, 35, was executed by lethal injection for the 2008 killing of his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter, Amora Carson, during what Milam and the mother described as an “exorcism.” Court documents described the child’s death as including 24 bite marks, 18 broken ribs, severe skull fractures, and genital injuries. Milam’s final words, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, thanked the department for allowing him to join a faith-based program on death row. “I love you all, bring me home Jesus,” he said.Milam’s attorneys argued that he is intellectually disabled and that the bite mark evidence in his case was unreliable. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those claims. His case was featured in Werner Herzog’s 2013 documentary, “On Death Row.”Both executions mark the fifth instance this year where two inmates were executed on the same day in the United States. Florida has carried out the most executions this year, followed by South Carolina and Texas.President Donald Trump, a proponent of capital punishment, signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday directing federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty in Washington, D.C., for the nation’s most heinous crimes. The memo, cited by USA TODAY, highlights Trump’s commitment to enforcing federal capital punishment despite opposition from some politicians, lawyers, and non-governmental organizations.Nine more executions are scheduled in eight states by the end of 2025, putting the U.S. on pace to execute at least 42 inmates this year, a number not seen since 2012. The next execution is set for Sept. 30 in Florida, where Victor Tony Jones is scheduled to be lethally injected for the 1990 stabbing murders of inventor Jacob Nestor and his wife, Matilda Nestor. October is expected to be particularly busy, with seven executions planned across multiple states, including Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, and Arizona.
