USA: Two executions carried out in Arizona and Florida, one halted in Tennessee—all within two days
Three executions were scheduled for May 20 and 21, 2026, in the United States. Leroy McGill was executed on Wednesday in Arizona, and Richard Knight on Thursday in Florida—just a few hours after Tennessee was forced to halt the execution of Tony Carruthers.
Leroy McGill
On Wednesday morning, 63-year-old Leroy McGill was executed by lethal injection by the state of Arizona.
He had been sentenced to death for allegedly pouring a highly flammable liquid over a 21-year-old man and his 24-year-old girlfriend in July 2002 and setting them on fire. The man died the next day from his injuries; the woman survived with burns covering 75 percent of her body.
McGill was the child of an abusive father, from whom his mother divorced only to enter into another violent relationship. He spent much of his youth in foster homes and state-run “Boystown” facilities, where, according to court records, he was beaten and sexually abused by both adults and other children.
By the age of 15, he was already drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. At the time of the crime, McGill was under the influence of methamphetamine.
When asked for his final words, he said, “I just want to thank everyone for being so kind and nice. I’m going home.”
Tony Carruthers
Tony Carruthers, 57, was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday morning in the U.S. state of Tennessee. After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final request by his lawyers to stay the execution, the Tennessee Department of Corrections began the execution process.
According to protocol, two intravenous lines are required for the lethal injection—but the team was unable to establish the second backup line. After an hour, the attempts were called off. Maria DeLiberato, one of Carruthers’ attorneys, said she saw him “twitching and groaning” while officials tried to find a vein, describing it as “horrible” to watch.
Ultimately, prison authorities called off the execution—“for now.” Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Governor Bill Lee had granted death row inmate Tony Carruthers a one-year stay of execution.
Due to similar difficulties, various states have repeatedly had to cancel executions—this is yet another “failed” execution of a death sentence in the United States, and it will reignite the debate on the issue.
Tony Carruthers was sentenced to death for a triple murder committed in 1994. However, there was no physical evidence linking him to the murders, and he was convicted primarily on the basis of statements from individuals who claimed to have heard him confess or discuss the crimes.
Among them was a man who later turned out to be a police informant and told the media he had been paid for his testimony. DNA tests that could have identified another man as the perpetrator were not authorized.
Richard Knight
On Thursday evening, 47-year-old Richard Knight was executed by lethal injection in the U.S. state of Florida. He had been sentenced to death for the murder of a woman and her four-year-old daughter in June 2000.
She was the girlfriend of Knight’s cousin, with whom he had been living and who wanted to evict him. The mother’s body had 21 stab wounds. Knight’s last words were limited to the sentence: “I want to thank Yahweh, the Most High.”
In its statement, the organization “Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty” (FADP) points out that there were still unexplained traces at the crime scene. A fingerprint on the blade of the murder weapon did not belong to Knight, but was not investigated further.
“The reality, however, is that the state has decided not to uncover the truth about what happened on the night of her murder. Another person was present at the crime scene, and the state has gone to great lengths to avoid the few minutes that would have been necessary for a simple fingerprint analysis to provide clarity,” according to FADP.
Furthermore, the statement highlights the background typical of many offenders: Knight’s biological mother had left him on a bus as a toddler in his native Jamaica, so neither his name nor his date of birth were known. Later, he was sexually abused by a neighbor.
On the day his death sentence was signed, he wrote to a friend, according to the FADP: “If anyone asks me what I need, it is prayers that, if they kill me, I may face it with dignity.”
Sources:
https://azmirror.com/2026/05/20/im-going-home-leroy-mcgill-executed-for-2002-napalm-attack-that-killed-one-burned-another/
https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2026/05/20/attorney-general-mayes-oversees-execution-of-leroy-mcgill/
https://www.coastreporter.net/world-news/tennessee-fails-to-execute-tony-carruthers-after-iv-difficulties-state-wont-try-again-for-a-year-12311679
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/05/21/florida-execution-richard-knight/90202981007/
https://www.fadp.org/statement-on-the-execution-of-richard-knight/