5 Inmates Scheduled to Die in a 7-Day Span

Death row inmates in five states are scheduled to be put to death in the span of one week, an unusually high number of executions that defies a yearslong trend. If carried out as planned, the executions in Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas will mark the first time in more than 20 years—since July 2003—that five were held in seven days, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, which takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized the way states carry out executions. Details, via the AP:

• Texas: Travis Mullis, a man with a long history of mental illness who has repeatedly sought to waive his right to appeal his death sentence, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday. Mullis was sentenced to death for killing his 3-month-old son in January 2008. Mullis' attorneys didn't plan to file any appeals.
• Missouri: Marcellus Williams is set to receive a lethal injection on Tuesday for the 1998 stabbing death of a woman in the St. Louis suburb of University City. Williams' attorneys argued on Monday that the state Supreme Court should halt his execution over alleged procedural errors at trial, but the state's high court rejected those arguments. Gov. Mike Parson denied Williams' clemency request.

• Alabama: The state plans on Thursday to carry out the nation's second execution ever using nitrogen gas after becoming the first state to use the new procedure in January. Alan Miller is set to die by the process in which a mask is placed over the inmate's head that forces the inmate to inhale pure nitrogen. Miller, who was given a reprieve in 2022 after his execution was called off when officials were unable to connect an intravenous line, was sentenced to die after being convicted of killing three men during back-to-back workplace shootings in 1999.
• Oklahoma: Emmanuel Littlejohn is set to receive a lethal injection on Thursday after being sentenced to die for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery. Littlejohn has admitted to his role in the robbery, but he claims he didn't fire the fatal shot. The state's Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 last month to recommend Gov. Kevin Stitt spare Littlejohn's life, but the governor has yet to make a clemency decision.

(More death penalty stories.)