The scheduling of five executions within one week is largely due to timing coincidences. Courts and state officials set execution dates after death row inmates exhaust their legal appeals. There’s no coordinated effort behind this, but it highlights the complexities of the death penalty system in the U.S.

Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He was one of four men executed in the United States in a week's time. The other executions were in South Carolina, Texas and Missouri. A fifth man was set to be executed in Alabama Thursday evening.