US Carries Out Third and Fourth Executions of the Week

WASHINGTON, 21 March 2025 (BSS/AFP) – Two US states carried out executions on Thursday, marking the third and fourth death sentences enforced in the country this week.

Details of the Executions

Oklahoma Execution: Wendell Grissom

Name: Wendell Grissom, 56

Crime: Murder of 23-year-old Amber Matthews during a home robbery in 2005

Execution Method: Lethal injection

Location: Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester

Time of Death: 10 minutes after the execution process began

Grissom was convicted for shooting Amber Matthews in the head while she was attempting to protect two young children. His accomplice, Jessie Johns, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The execution was carried out using a three-drug protocol:

Midazolam – Induces sedation

Vecuronium Bromide – Halts respiration

Potassium Chloride – Stops the heart

Florida Execution: Edward James

Name: Edward James, 63

Crime: 1993 rape and murder of eight-year-old Toni Neuner and the killing of her grandmother, Betty Dick

Execution Method: Lethal injection

Location: Florida State Prison, Raiford

Time of Execution: 8:15 pm local time (00:15 GMT Friday)

Earlier Executions This Week

Hoffman’s execution was the first in Louisiana in 15 years. His death was caused by nitrogen gas inhalation, a controversial method denounced by the United Nations as cruel and inhumane. Arizona’s execution of Gunches was performed using traditional lethal injection.

Capital Punishment in the United States

Total executions in 2025 so far: 10

Total executions in 2024: 25

States with abolished death penalty: 23

States with moratoriums: 3 (California, Oregon, Pennsylvania)

The vast majority of executions in the US since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976 have been carried out using lethal injection. However, South Carolina executed a prisoner by firing squad on 7 March 2025.

Former President Donald Trump remains a proponent of capital punishment, having called for its expanded use for the “vilest crimes” on his first day in office.