Arkansas prepares for 1st double execution in US since 2000
Source: Associated Press
Andrew Demillo and Kelly P. Kissel, Associated Press Updated 4:38 pm, Monday, April 24, 2017
VARNER, Ark. (AP) Two Arkansas killers set to die Monday in the nation's first double execution in more than 16 years acknowledge they're guilty but fear the lethal injections could subject them to excruciating pain due to their various health problems.
Jack Jones and Marcel Williams say their medical conditions which include obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure could complicate their executions. Jones' execution is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and Williams' is slated to begin at 8:15 p.m. in the same execution chamber. They have asked courts to grant them stays, but so far none has. Their appeals are now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Williams' "morbid obesity makes it likely that either the IV line cannot be placed or that it will be placed in error, thus causing substantial damage (like a collapsed lung)," his attorneys wrote in a court filing asking justices to block the execution.
In Jones' case, attorneys said he takes a daily dose of two medications to treat chronic pain, and they worry those drugs could desensitize him to the effects of midazolam, which is a sedative and the first drug used in Arkansas' lethal injection protocol.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Arkansas-prepares-for-1st-double-execution-in-US-11093600.php
SomethingNew
(279 posts)"Arkansas Prepares for State Sanctioned Double Murder"
How long until we wake up and abolish this monstrous practice? It is depressing that there are still people out there that support capital punishment. Fortunately, I think we are on the right track. Unfortunately, it appears to be too late in this case.
LS_Editor
(893 posts)Barbarians.
LeftInTX
(25,083 posts)It didn't go well.
canetoad
(17,133 posts)U.S. | Mon Apr 24, 2017 | 8:35pm EDT
Arkansas puts first killer to death in planned double execution
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-arkansas-execution-idUSKBN17Q0CO
By Steve Barnes | LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
Arkansas executed the first of two inmates scheduled to be put to death on Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant a last-minute reprieve, according to local media reports.
Jack Jones, 52, was pronounced dead at 7:20 CDT (0020 GMT on Tuesday) at the Cummins Unit prison, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of the state capital, Little Rock, according to reporters who were at the prison for the execution.
Jones was convicted of raping and killing Mary Phillips, 34, in 1995 and trying to murder her 11-year-old daughter.
Officials were preparing to carry out the death sentence for Marcel Williams, 46, who had been tentatively scheduled to die at 8:15 p.m. CDT (0115 GMT on Tuesday) for the 1997 kidnapping, rape and murder of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson.