Three men were scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday across three states — the first time since 2010 that many executions were set for a single day — as states increasingly reclaim a punishment the establishment has spent decades trying to dismantle.

Oklahoma executed Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, at 10:13 a.m. for the 2003 murder of his common-law wife, Olimpia Fisher. Tennessee executed Darrell Hines, 66, at 10:43 a.m. for the 1985 murder of motel maid Catherine Jean Jenkins, a mother of four whom he stabbed 13 times and sexually assaulted with the same knife. Alabama was scheduled to execute Jeremy Williams, 42, who pleaded guilty to raping and murdering 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in 2021.

The scheduling was coincidental, but the trend is real: 47 people were executed in the U.S. last year, the highest number since 2009, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Twenty-one inmates have been put to death this year with nearly a dozen more scheduled.

The Guardian, true to form, framed the day as evidence of America's "renewed appetite for state killings" — language that would be unrecognizable to the families who waited decades for accountability. The paper buried what Hines actually did to Jenkins, while giving generous space to his attorney's claim that executing a blind, paralyzed man constituted "murder."

Hines' attorney, Katherine Dix, released a statement calling the execution "the violence the State of Tennessee inflicted on us all" and noted that Hines' son met him for the first time four days before watching him die. "The leaders of this state repeatedly invoke the sanctity of life, but today the state put to death a man who was blind and paralyzed on his left side, could not walk, and was in constant pain," Dix said, according to The Guardian.

What the anti-death-penalty press won't center is what the victim's family endured. Jenkins' son, Dennis, addressed reporters after the execution, as reported by WZTV: "For those of you that may be concerned as to whether or not this animal suffered, let me tell you what he did to my mother." He described the 13 stab wounds and the sexual assault. "Yes, I hope he did suffer because what he did to my mother is nothing to what he just went through." Jenkins' daughter, Melissa, called the execution justice: "After so many years, we're finally able to close this chapter of our lives."

WZTV reported that media witnesses noted Hines' hands were covered and one arm was bent from a prior stroke. His speech was impaired. When asked for last words, he declined. At approximately 10:34 a.m., witnesses said Hines let out a loud groan and gurgled as discoloration appeared on his face. He was pronounced dead nine minutes later.

Cuesta-Rodriguez's family issued a statement calling his life one of "extraordinary beauty and tenderness within the darkest of conditions" and said he was "a different man from the one who committed his horrible crime," according to The Guardian. He had appealed for mercy, citing mental illness and remorse. The courts were unmoved.

Williams — who pleaded guilty and declined to appeal — was set to follow later Thursday in Alabama, his execution accelerated by his own refusal to fight it.

The establishment press wrings its hands over three executions in one day. The families of Catherine Jenkins, Olimpia Fisher, and Kamarie Holland waited 22, 23, and 5 years respectively. The question isn't why states are executing killers again. It's why it took this long.