Two men were put to death in Arkansas on Monday night, the first time a state has conducted two death sentences in one day since 2000.<\/p>\n
Convicted murderers Jack Jones and Marcel Williams received the lethal injection cocktail at at 7:06 p.m. CT and 10:16 p.m. CT, respectively, CNN reported on April 25. Jones was pronounced dead at 7:20 p.m. and Williams at 10:33 p.m.<\/p>\n
According to NBC News, J.R. Davis, a spokesperson for Gov. Asa Hutchinson, described the executions as \u201cflawless.\u201d Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge released a statement following the executions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter several years of delay, Stacy Errickson\u2019s family and friends have seen justice carried out for her brutal death on November 20, 1994. Stacy was a young mother of two when she was kidnapped, raped and strangled to death with the drawstring from the hood of her own jacket,\u201d Rutledge said. \u201cI hope that tonight\u2019s lawful execution brings much-needed peace to all of Stacy\u2019s loved ones, particularly her now-adult children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones and Williams are the second and third of eight inmates originally scheduled for execution between April 17 and 27. Hutchinson stated that the reasoning for the quick succession of executions was because the state\u2019s supply of a key lethal injection drug \u2014 midzaloam \u2014 expires at the end of April.<\/p>\n
Arkansas courts blocked four of the eight scheduled executions, but the state executed Ledell Lee on April 20, only minutes before his death warrant expired, NBC News reported. The first person put to death in Arkansas since 2005, Lee was convicted in 1995 of murdering a woman in her home in 1993 and claimed innocence until his death, according to CNN.<\/p>\n
According to NBC News, Williams did not make a final statement before his execution, but Jones made a lengthy and apologetic statement, including direct apologies to his victims\u2019 families. After Jones\u2019 execution, Williams\u2019 lawyers claimed that the first execution was \u201ctorturous and inhumane,\u201d prompting a federal district judge to issue a temporary stay on Williams\u2019 execution, according to CNN. However, the state called the lawyers\u2019 claims \u201cutterly baseless\u201d while a federal judge lifted the temporary stay, and Williams was executed soon after.<\/p>\n
Dr. Matthew Swindle, assistant professor of criminal justice, said that the state\u2019s choice to carry out multiple executions within such a short timeframe is constitutional, both on a state and national level.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaced with the prospect of carrying out the execution in April or continuing to delay the execution of inmates who committed their crimes between 18 and 28 years ago, the State has chosen to follow through with administering the sentence and seeing justice done for the family members of the crime victims,\u201d Swindle said.<\/p>\n
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Jones\u2019 and Williams\u2019 lethal injections were the first consecutive executions in the United States since Texas carried out the death sentences of Brian Roberson and Oliver Cruz on August 9, 2000. According to the Department of Corrections, the last double execution in Arkansas was on Sept. 8, 1999, when Allen Willett and Mark Gardener were put to death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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