Oklahoma man put to death in first of three US executions scheduled on same day

If all executions go ahead, it will be first time in over 15 years there have been over three judicial killings in US in one day

Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez has been put to death by the state of Oklahoma, in the first of three executions scheduled for Thursday in a rare triple procedure that underlines the renewed appetite in the US for state killings.

Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, was pronounced dead at 10.13am at the Oklahoma state penitentiary in McAlester. He was sentenced to death for murdering his common-law wife, Olimpia Fisher, in 2003. He had unsuccessfully appealed for mercy, saying he was remorseful and had struggled all his life from mental illness.