The state of Arkansas plans to execute two of the Arkansas Eight tonight, which would make it the first U.S. state in 17 years to put
a pair of convicts to death on the same day, reported The Huffington Post.
A flurry of last-minute legal appeals at both the
state and federal level are expected, though their likelihood of success may
have diminished with the recent appointment of conservative U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The high court cleared the way last week for
Arkansas to hold its first execution in 12 years and the state carried out the
death penalty on convicted murderer Ledell Lee.
Jack Jones, sentenced in 1996 for raping and
strangling Mary Phillips and attempting to murder her 11-year-old daughter, is
scheduled to be put to death at 7 p.m at the Cummins Unit prison, about 75
miles southeast of the state capital of Little Rock. Jones was also convicted
of rape and murder in Florida.
At 8:15 p.m., the state is tentatively scheduled to
execute Marcel Williams, who was sentenced to death in 1997 for kidnapping,
raping and murdering Stacy Errickson. He also abducted and raped two other
women.
Marcel Williams is also scheduled for execution on
Monday. He was sentenced to death for t he kidnapping, rape and murder of Stacy
Errickson. He also abducted and raped two other women.
The last time a state executed two inmates on the
same day was 2000 in Texas.
The condemned pair were among eight inmates that
Arkansas had initially planned to execute in the span of 11 days, a compressed
schedule prompted by the impending expiration date of supplies of a sedative
used as part of the three-drug lethal injection process.
The drug in question, midazolam, was employed in
flawed executions in Oklahoma and Arizona, where witnesses said the inmates
writhed in apparent pain on the gurney. No problems were reported in Lee’s
execution on Thursday.
Four of the planned executions have already been
placed on hold by court order.
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