A court reprieve that halted the scheduled December lethal injection of a Texas prisoner means 2017 will come to an end with 23 inmates executed in the U.S.
Texas inmate Juan Castillo's scheduled Dec. 14 execution was the last execution scheduled for 2017 in the 31 states that still impose the death penalty. It was halted by Texas' top criminal court.
The number of executions carried out in 2017 is slightly higher than the 20 carried out in the U.S. in 2016.
Texas has carried out seven executions this year, making it the nation's most active death penalty state. Arkansas carried out four executions, followed by Alabama and Florida with three, Ohio and Virginia with two, and Georgia and Missouri with one. No executions have been carried out in Oklahoma.