Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez is scheduled for execution in Oklahoma on August 13, 2026, for the 2003 murder of Olimpia Fisher.
- Carlos accepts his guilt and has shown great remorse for his crime. Mr. Cuesta-Rodriguez’s adolescence was very traumatic. It included growing up in an impoverished and polluted environment in Cuba, suffering from physical abuse in the home, being left severely injured and psychologically changed by a bus crash, and being treated with electroshock “therapy.”
- Mr. Cuesta-Rodriguez has suffered from many injuries and traumas that have left him impaired and mentally ill in various ways. He is currently in poor health and suffers from dementia. Despite these alignments, he is well-behaved, with group yard privileges. He is over 70 years old and poses no threat while in prison.
- Carlos has reconnected with his Catholic faith. He also maintains relationships with friends and family members, sending them his cross-stitch artwork. His priest, friends, and family members all ask that the board grant clemency.
Oklahoma’s aggressive execution schedule marks it as an outlier in its use of the death penalty, while the majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions. In the last few years, Oklahoma has been one of only a handful of states that have carried out death sentences, and it continues to do so, targeting the poor, the mentally ill, and people of color.
This particular execution is just one in a series of 25 executions scheduled by Oklahoma in the coming months, despite serious concerns around the state’s lethal injection protocols and drugs.