Arkansas executed its fourth inmate in a week, ending a frantic schedule caused by the looming expiration of the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs.

Kenneth Williams, 38, was initially sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of Dominique Hurd, a university cheerleader. He was later convicted of capital murder after he escaped from prison and killed Cecil Boren .

Boren’s daughter, Jodie Efird, watched the execution Thursday night from the death chamber. She said while it may not bring closure, it helps a little.

“Every time we drive down this road, he’s not here anymore,” she said of Williams.

During the execution, Williams expressed remorse in his final words.

“I was more than wrong. The crime I perpetrated against you all was senseless,” Williams said, according to CNN affiliate KATV.

He died by lethal injection at 11:05 p.m. local time, the last of eight inmates originally scheduled to be put to death this month.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson had put a temporary hold on Williams’ execution Thursday evening to allow the US Supreme Court to consider motions for stays of execution. The court denied all the motions.

Williams was convicted in the 1998 killing of Hurd, the university cheerleader.

In 1999, he escaped from Cummins prison and killed Cecil Boren at his home just a couple miles away. He was captured after causing a traffic accident that killed a driver, Michael Greenwood of Missouri. He was convicted of capital murder for Boren’s death in 2000.

Boren’s widow said earlier that she planned to witness the execution.

“We just live 2 miles from the prison. … Every time I go up and down the highway, I know he’s there,” Gail Boren told CNN affiliate KATV.

“We are looking forward to this happening so we can put it behind us.”

Seventeen years after that conviction, Williams was executed at the same Cummins prison he escaped from.

Arkansas’ supply of sedatives used in the lethal injection expires at the end of the month. The state is facing a scarcity of lethal injection drugs as it struggles with suppliers that don’t want their products used in executions.

Of the eight inmates scheduled to die, the courts had issued injunctions staying four of those executions for various reasons.

Ledell Lee, Jack Jones and Marcel Williams, and Kenneth Williams, were executed April 20, Monday and Thursday, respectively.

Jones and Marcel Williams were both executed Monday for murders committed in the 1990s, while Lee was killed April 20. Lee was convicted in 1995 of murdering a woman in her home two years earlier.

Williams and the other seven death row inmates initially fought their executions on the grounds that midazolam, the sedative Arkansas is using to render inmates unconscious, does not reliably prevent a painful death. The Arkansas Supreme Court denied the claim.

States generally didn’t use midazolam in the past, but they’ve turned to it as drug makers clamped down on the use of other drugs in executions.

Lethal injection traditionally required a three-drug cocktail: The first (sodium thiopental or pentobarbital) put the prisoner to sleep; the second (pancuronium bromide) brought on paralysis; and the final agent (potassium chloride) stopped the heart.

But manufacturers and European countries started withholding sodium thiopental and pentobarbital, saying they didn’t want them used in executions. Arkansas and other states turned to midazolam as an alternative to the anesthetic.

It’s unclear whether Arkansas will receive fresh supplies of midazolam after its current batch expires. One manufacturer, West-Ward Pharmacueticals, filed a brief in support of the eight inmates this month, saying it tries to ensure its midazolam isn’t used in executions.

One of the media witnesses, Donna Terrell of FOX 16 in Little Rock, told CNN affiliate KARK that after the midazolam was injected, Williams’ chest started going up and down rapidly.

It continued for several minutes, Terrell said, from 10:55 pm to 10:59 pm, at which point it appeared he stopped breathing, or it was no longer noticeable.

Even though the microphone was turned off, Terrell said, the witnesses could still hear heavy breathing.

But there was no expression on Williams’ face. It didn’t appear as if he was in pain, she said.

“While the rest of the country and the world moves away from the death penalty, Arkansas has shown just how committed it is to running in the wrong direction,” said James Clark, a senior campaigner at Amnesty International USA. “While it is too late for Kenneth Williams, Jack Jones, Marcel Williams, and Ledell Lee, it is not too late to commute the sentences of all of those remaining on death row. </s> VARNER, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas wrapped up an accelerated executions schedule with a lethal injection that left the condemned inmate lurching and convulsing before he died, prompting calls for investigations and renewed scrutiny of the state’s efforts to put multiple inmates to death on a compressed timeline.

Kenneth Williams on Thursday became the fourth convicted killer executed in Arkansas in eight days as the state sought to carry out as many lethal injections as possible before one of its drugs expires Sunday.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the execution said that about three minutes in, Williams’ body jerked 15 times in quick succession — lurching violently against the leather restraint across his chest — then the rate slowed for a final five movements.

J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson who did not witness the execution, called the movements “an involuntary muscular reaction” that he said was a widely known effect of the surgical sedative midazolam, the first of three drugs administered.

Williams’ attorneys released a statement calling witness accounts “horrifying” and demanding an investigation into what they called the “problematic execution.”

Arkansas had scheduled eight executions over an 11-day period before one of its lethal injection drugs expires on Sunday. That would have been the most in such a short time since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, but courts issued stays for four of the inmates. The four lethal injections that were carried out included Monday’s first double execution in the United States since 2000.

Williams read a prepared final statement before the execution began, apologizing to the families he “senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones.” He also spoke in tongues, the unintelligible but language-like speech used in some religions. But his prayer faded off as the midazolam took effect. He said, “The words that I speak will forever be, will forever …” before he fell silent.

The inmate breathed heavily through his nose until just after three minutes into his execution, when his chest leaped forward in a series of what seemed like involuntary movements. His right hand never clenched and his face remained what one media witness called “serene.”

After the jerking, Williams breathed through his mouth and moaned or groaned once — during a consciousness check — until falling still seven minutes into the lethal injection.

A Friday morning tweet from the account of a Republican state Sen. Trent Garner, who witnessed the execution, said Williams did not “seem in pain. … It was not cruel, unusual, botched or torture.”

Williams was sentenced to death for killing a former deputy warden, Cecil Boren, after he escaped from prison in 1999. At the time of his escape in a 500-gallon barrel of hog slop, Williams was less than three weeks into a life term for the death of a college cheerleader.

“Any amount of movement he might have had was far less than any of his victims,” said Jodie Efird, one of Boren’s daughters, who witnessed the execution.

State officials have called Arkansas’ string of executions a success, declaring justice served and “closure” for victims’ families. Some concerns had been raised about Monday’s execution of Jack Jones, whose mouth moved after attorneys said he should have been unconscious, though a federal judge determined it did not appear to be “torturous and inhumane.”

All of the Arkansas inmates — including Williams — have died within 20 minutes of their executions beginning, a contrast from troubled midazolam-related executions in other states that took anywhere from 43 minutes to two hours. Though witnesses to those lengthier executions also described hearing inmates breathe heavily, snore or snort or seeing them struggle against their restraints.

“The long path of justice ended tonight and Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked,” Hutchinson said in a statement issued after Williams’ execution.

Davis, the governor’s spokesman, said later that he was sure Hutchinson would follow up “as he does with every execution,” but that the governor was confident the Department of Correction “did what it was supposed to do.”

Davis stood by his previous description of the state’s executions as “flawless.”

Dale Baich, an assistant federal public defender who witnessed a flawed 2014 Arizona execution that took two hours, said in an email early Friday that after reading media reports, “It appears from witness accounts that Mr. Williams was not fully sedated when the paralytic was administered.

“At a minimum, this was a deviation from the protocol.”

Williams’ lawyers had said he had sickle cell trait, lupus and brain damage, and argued the combined maladies could subject him to an exceptionally painful execution in violation of the U.S. Constitution. They argued Arkansas’ “one size fits all” execution protocol could have left him in pain after a paralytic agent rendered him unable to move. State and federal courts rejected the claims.

Williams was sentenced to death for killing Boren after escaping from the Cummins Unit prison in a barrel holding a mishmash of kitchen scraps. He left the prison — where the execution chamber is located in another part of the facility — less than three weeks into a life prison term for killing University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique Hurd in 1998. At the conclusion of that trial, he had taunted the young woman’s family by turning to them after the sentence was announced and saying “You thought I was going to die, didn’t you?”

After jumping from the barrel, he sneaked along a tree line until reaching Boren’s house. He killed Boren, stole guns and Boren’s truck and then drove away to Missouri. There, he crashed into a water-delivery truck, killing the driver. While in prison, he confessed to killing another person in 1998.

At the time of Boren’s death, investigators said it did not appear Boren was targeted because of his former employment by the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Follow Kelly P. Kissel at www.twitter.com/kisselAP and Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo. </s> LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CN) – Arkansas on Thursday night executed its fourth man in eight days, concluding its plan that called for eight prisoners to die by lethal injection before a key drug expires at the end of April.

Kenneth Williams, 38, was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m. Central Standard Time, 13 minutes after the execution began. The execution, scheduled for 7 p.m., was delayed while the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed Williams’ requests to block his death sentence.

Williams was sentenced to death for the 1999 killing and robbery of Cecil Boren, 18 days after Williams escaped from prison in Lincoln County, where he was serving a life sentence for killing university cheerleader Dominique Hurd. Williams is also responsible for killing motorist Michael Greenwood during a high-speed police chase.

He was the fourth man Arkansas killed in eight days, when its plan to kill eight over 11 days faltered due to legal challenges. The state’s supply of midazolam, a sedative, expires on Sunday. It is the first of three drugs Arkansas uses to kill people.

Jack Harold Jones, 52, and Marcel Wayne Williams, 46, were killed Monday night, 3 hours apart, the nation’s first double execution in 17 years.

The U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday cleared the way for Williams’ execution after he unsuccessfully petitioned the Eighth Circuit for a stay.

The Arkansas Supreme Court also denied Williams’ requests and Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie M. Pierce dismissed a complaint filed Thursday morning that claimed Williams’ execution could cause him unconstitutional pain and suffering because of his “unique medical conditions.” Williams suffered from sickle cell trait, lupus and organic brain damage, according to court filings.

Williams’ attorneys have claimed for years that he is mentally disabled and ineligible for the death penalty. They said in the Pulaski County complaint that, like the Monday night execution of Marcel Williams, their client’s execution would cause him to “be tortured to death and endure severe pain and suffering due to his unique medical conditions and as a result of the state’s failure to humanely apply its execution protocol.”

“The state has not offered any evidence or proffered an expert witness to rebut the substantial proof that Mr. Williams is intellectually disabled,” said Shawn Nolan, whose office was appointed to represent Williams. “Unfortunately, the courts have simply refused to allow Mr. Williams to prove his intellectual disability, a disability that would prohibit his execution.”

“Tonight the rule of law was upheld as the family of Cecil Boren saw justice done,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said late Thursday night. “On October 3, 1999, Cecil was simply going about his daily life at his home near the Cummins Prison Unit when he was shot and killed by an escapee who was serving life imprisonment without parole for capital murder.

“I pray this lawful execution will bring closure and peace to the Boren family,” Rutledge said.

Williams was the 200th person executed in Arkansas since it began capital punishment in 1913, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Before last week, the state had not executed a prisoner since November 2005. </s> VARNER, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas executed its fourth inmate in eight days Thursday night, wrapping up an accelerated schedule with a lethal injection that left the prisoner lurching and convulsing 20 times before he died.

Kenneth Williams, 38, was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m., 13 minutes after the execution began at the Cummins Unit prison at Varner.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the lethal injection said Williams’ body jerked 15 times in quick succession, then the rate slowed for a final five movements. J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson who did not witness the execution, called it “an involuntary muscular reaction” that he said was a widely known effect of one of the execution drugs.

Arkansas had scheduled eight executions over an 11-day period before one of its lethal injection drugs expires on Sunday. That would have been the most in such a compressed period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, but courts issued stays for four of the inmates.

The four lethal injections that were carried out included Monday’s first double execution in the United States since 2000.

“I extend my sincerest of apologies to the families I have senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones,” Williams said in a final statement he read from the death chamber. “… I was more than wrong. The crimes I perpetrated against you all was senseless, extremely hurtful and inexcusable.”

Williams also spoke in tongues during his last statement, but his prayer faded off as the sedative midazolam took effect. His final words were, “The words that I speak will forever be, will forever …” before he fell silent.

The inmate breathed heavily through his nose until just after three minutes into his execution, when his chest leaped forward in a series of what seemed like involuntary movements. His right hand never clenched and his face remained what one media witness called “serene.”

After the jerking, Williams breathed through his mouth and moaned or groaned once — during a consciousness check — until falling still seven minutes into the lethal injection.

Williams was sentenced to death for killing a former deputy warden, Cecil Boren, after he escaped from prison in 1999. At the time of his escape in a 500-gallon barrel of hog slop, Williams was less than three weeks into a life term for the death of a college cheerleader.

“Any kind of movement he had was far less than his victims,” said Jodie Efird, one of Boren’s daughters, who witnessed the execution.

State officials have declared the string of executions a success, using terms like “closure” for the victims’ families. The inmates have died within 20 minutes of their executions beginning, a contrast from midazolam-related executions in other states that took anywhere from 43 minutes to two hours. The inmates’ lawyers have said there are still flaws and that there is no certainty that the inmates aren’t suffering while they die.

“The long path of justice ended tonight and Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked,” Hutchinson said in a statement issued after the execution. “Carrying out the penalty of the jury in the Kenneth Williams case was necessary. There has never been a question of guilt.”

Arkansas scheduled the executions for the final two weeks of April because its supply of midazolam, normally a surgical sedative, expires on Sunday. The Arkansas Department of Correction has said it has no new source for the drug — though it has made similar remarks previously yet still found a new stash.

Williams’ lawyers said he had sickle cell trait, lupus and brain damage, and argued the combined maladies could subject him to an exceptionally painful execution in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Arkansas’ “one size fits all” execution protocol could leave him in pain after a paralytic agent renders him unable to move, they’d argued.

“After the state injects Mr. Williams with vecuronium bromide … most or all of the manifestations of his extreme pain and suffering will not be discernible to witnesses,” they wrote to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which rejected his request to stop the execution.

The U.S. Supreme Court also denied requests for a stay, including one that argued his claims of intellectual disability had not been fully explored.

Williams was sentenced to death for killing Boren after escaping from the Cummins Unit prison in a barrel holding a mishmash of kitchen scraps. He left the prison — where the execution chamber is located in another part of the facility — less than three weeks into a life prison term for killing University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique Hurd in 1998. At the conclusion of that trial, he had taunted the young woman’s family by turning to them after the sentence was announced and saying “You thought I was going to die, didn’t you?”

After jumping from the barrel, he sneaked along a tree line until reaching Boren’s house. He killed Boren, stole guns and Boren’s truck and then drove away to Missouri. There, he crashed into a water-delivery truck, killing the driver. While in prison, he confessed to killing another person in 1998.

At the time of Boren’s death, investigators said it did not appear Boren was targeted because of his former employment by the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo and Kelly P. Kissel at www.twitter.com/kisselAP </s> Kenneth William's death wraps up an aggressive execution schedule set to beat expiry of drug used in lethal injection.

Arkansas has wrapped up an aggressive execution schedule, putting to death its fourth inmate in eight days, hours after a last minute motion to halt his execution failed before the US Supreme Court.

Kenneth Williams, 38, received a lethal injection on Thursday night at the Cummins Unit prison at Varner for the killing of a former deputy warden in 1999.

He was pronounced dead at 11:05pm, 13 minutes after the execution began.

Arkansas had initially held off on executing Williams, who was scheduled to die at 7pm local time, as officials awaited word from the Supreme Court. His death warrant was set to expire at midnight.

A few minutes after 10pm, the court ruled to deny the petitions, without elaborating on its decisions.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed Thursday's execution said Williams lurched and convulsed 20 times during the lethal injection. A prison spokesman said he shook for approximately 10 seconds, about three minutes into the procedure.

READ MORE: Arkansas carries out first double execution since 2000

"I extend my sincerest of apologies to the families I have senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones," Williams said in a final statement he read from the death chamber. "... I was more than wrong. The crimes I perpetrated against you all was senseless, extremely hurtful and inexcusable."

Arkansas had scheduled eight executions over an 11-day period before one of its lethal injection drugs expires at the end of April - the nation's fastest pace since the Supreme Court reauthorised the death penalty in 1976. Courts issued stays for four of the inmates.

Among the four lethal injections was Monday's first double execution in the United States since 2000.

State officials have declared the string of executions a success, using terms like "closure" for the victims' families.

The inmates have died within 20 minutes of their executions' beginning, a contrast from midazolam-related executions in other states that took anywhere from 43 minutes to two hours. The inmates' lawyers have said there are still flaws and that there is no certainty that the inmates aren't suffering while they die.

"The long path of justice ended tonight and Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked," Governor Asa Hutchinson said in a statement issued after the execution. "Carrying out the penalty of the jury in the Kenneth Williams case was necessary. There has never been a question of guilt."

Arkansas scheduled the executions for the final two weeks of April because its supply of midazolam, normally a surgical sedative, expires on Sunday.

The Arkansas Department of Correction has said it has no new source for the drug - though it has made similar remarks previously yet still found a new stash.

READ MORE: The struggle against America's racist death row

Court filings by Williams on Thursday afternoon followed two threads: that Arkansas executions this week were so flawed that there is little doubt Williams will suffer as he dies, and that he has an intellectual disability that would make him ineligible for execution.

He was sentenced to death for killing former deputy warden Cecil Boren after escaping from the Cummins Unit prison in a 1,800-litre barrel of hog slop in 1999. He left the prison less than three weeks into a life term for killing University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique Hurd in 1998.

At the conclusion of that trial, he had taunted the young woman's family by turning to them after the sentence was announced and saying "You thought I was going to die, didn't you?"

After jumping from the barrel of kitchen scraps, he sneaked along a tree line until he reached Boren's house. He killed Boren, stole guns and Boren's truck, then drove to Missouri.

There, he crashed into a water-delivery truck, killing the driver, Michael Greenwood. While in prison, he confessed to killing another person in 1998. </s> Arkansas has put to death convicted murderer Kenneth Williams. His was the last of a series of executions accelerated because the state's lethal-injection drugs were about to expire.

Williams was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m. Central time after the execution began at 10:52 p.m., Arkansas Public Media reports.

State officials initially scheduled eight condemned inmates to die over 11 days — the fastest pace of executions in decades. Some executions were blocked by the courts.

The state accelerated the schedule because its supply of midazolam expires at the end of April and has been hard to acquire for death penalty purposes.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson pressed for the fast pace of executions and said that they are a way to bring justice for the families of the victims. In a statement issued shortly after officials announced Williams' execution had been carried out, Hutchinson said:



"The long path of justice ended tonight and Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked. Carrying out the penalty of the jury in the Kenneth Williams case was necessary. There has never been a question of guilt."



Family members of the victim thanked Gov. Hutchinson and the Arkansas Department of Correction for "flawlessly carrying out" the execution, member station KUAR Public Radio reports.

Williams "lurched and convulsed 20 times during the lethal injection," according to an Associated Press reporter who witnessed the execution. "A prison spokesman said he shook for approximately 10 seconds, about three minutes into the procedure," the AP reports.

The spokesman for Gov. Hutchinson, J.R. Davis, responded that Williams' reaction was a "known" involuntary reaction to one of the drugs used, KUAR reports.

Critics have characterized the packed schedule as reckless and error-prone. Hours before the execution, Williams' lawyers continued to try to stop it.

A filing Thursday morning at the Circuit Court of Pulaski County said Williams had medical conditions such as "sickle cell trait, Lupus and organic brain damage" that make complications more likely during an execution by lethal injection.

Ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court, in a two-sentence order issued late Thursday night, denied the application for a stay of execution, clearing the way for the execution to proceed.

Williams, 38, was "serving a life sentence for the 1998 murder of a college student when he escaped from prison and killed a local farmer, for which he was sentenced to death," KUAR's Chris Hickey tells our Newscast unit.

"All of his crimes were described as random with money as the motive," according to local broadcaster Fox 16. The station added that he was moved to the Cummins unit Wednesday in preparation for the execution.

On Monday night, Arkansas put to death two inmates — Marcel Williams and Jack Jones Jr. It was the first double execution in the U.S. in 17 years. As The Two-Way previously reported: </s> LITTLE ROCK, 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. So far none has.

They would be the second and third inmates executed by Arkansas this month. A fourth execution is set for Thursday. Arkansas initially wanted to execute eight men before a drug used to sedate the inmates expires Sunday, but four other inmates have won stays.

Before Ledell Lee's execution last Thursday, Arkansas hadn't put an inmate to death since 2005. In several of the 31 states where executions are legal, drug shortages have often forced delays as manufacturers prohibit their use in executions. Arkansas believes that secrecy it grants to suppliers can solve that problem, though it still has difficulty obtaining the drugs. Courts have also forced rewrites of Arkansas' lethal injection protocols, causing further delays. Jones and Williams committed their crimes more than two decades ago.

In recent pleadings before state and federal courts, the inmates say the three drugs Arkansas uses to execute prisoners - midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride - could be ineffective because of their poor health.

Jones, 52, has lost a leg to diabetes and is on insulin. Williams, 46, weighs 400 pounds, is diabetic and has concerns that the execution team might not be able to find a suitable vein to support an intravenous line.

The poor health of both men, their lawyers claim, could make it difficult for them to respond during a consciousness check following a megadose of midazolam. The state shouldn't risk giving them drugs to stop their lungs and hearts if they aren't unconscious, they have told courts.

In a response filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the state said the inmates had filed an "avalanche" of lawsuits to obtain stays. The men's attorneys countered that the state forced their hands.

"If there was an 'avalanche' of litigation, as the state complains, that's because the state created an avalanche of execution dates," Julie Vandiver wrote.

The 8th Circuit rejected Jones' and Williams' requests for stay Monday, and the Arkansas Supreme Court said Monday it wouldn't reopen the men's cases and refused to issue stays.

The initial eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a short period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state said the executions needed to be carried out before its supply of the sedative midazolam expires on April 30.

The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000. Arkansas executed four men in an eight day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930.

Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.

Authorities said Williams abducted and raped two other women in the days before he was arrested in Errickson's death. Williams admitted responsibility to the state Parole Board last month.

"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.

Jones was given the death penalty for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He strangled her with the cord to a coffee pot.

In a letter earlier this month, Jones said he was ready to be killed by the state.

"I forgive my executioners; somebody has to do it," wrote Jones, who had a leg amputated in prison because of diabetes and uses a wheelchair.

The letter, which his attorney read aloud at his clemency hearing, went on to say: "I shall not ask to be forgiven, for I haven't the right."

Seven people have been executed in the United States this year, four in Texas and one each in Arkansas, Missouri and Virginia. Last year, 20 people were executed, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Associated Press writers Jill Bleed and Kelly P. Kissel contributed to this report. </s> Arkansas was proceeding with plans to conduct the nation's first double execution in more than 16 years after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the first to move forward, turning back the inmate's claims that his poor health could cause excruciating pain during the lethal injection.

Justices rejected a stay request from Jack Jones, who was set to die at 7 p.m. Monday. A second inmate, Marcel Williams, was set for execution later Monday though he still has pending legal challenges.

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, a sedative that is the first drug used in Arkansas' lethal injection protocol. Jones also has diabetes and had a leg amputated in prison.

Williams, set for execution at 8:15 p.m., has appeals pending with 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.

Both men were served last meals on Monday afternoon, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves said. Jones had fried chicken, potato logs with tartar sauce, beef jerky bites, three candy bars, a chocolate milkshake and fruit punch. Williams had fried chicken, banana pudding, nachos, two sodas and potato logs with ketchup, Graves said.

They would be the second and third inmates executed by Arkansas this month. A fourth execution is set for Thursday. Arkansas initially wanted to execute eight men before a drug used to sedate the inmates expires Sunday, but four other inmates have won stays.

Before Ledell Lee's execution last Thursday, Arkansas hadn't put an inmate to death since 2005. In several of the 31 states where executions are legal, drug shortages have often forced delays as manufacturers prohibit their use in executions. Arkansas believes that secrecy it grants to suppliers can solve that problem, though it still has difficulty obtaining the drugs. Courts have also forced rewrites of Arkansas' lethal injection protocols, causing further delays. Jones and Williams committed their crimes more than two decades ago.

In recent pleadings before state and federal courts, the inmates say the three drugs Arkansas uses to execute prisoners — midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride — could be ineffective because of their poor health.

Jones, 52, has lost a leg to diabetes and is on insulin. Williams, 46, weighs 400 pounds, is diabetic and has concerns that the execution team might not be able to find a suitable vein to support an intravenous line.

The poor health of both men, their lawyers claim, could make it difficult for them to respond during a consciousness check following a megadose of midazolam. The state shouldn't risk giving them drugs to stop their lungs and hearts if they aren't unconscious, they have told courts.

In a response filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the state said the inmates had filed an "avalanche" of lawsuits to obtain stays. The men's attorneys countered that the state forced their hands.

"If there was an 'avalanche' of litigation, as the state complains, that's because the state created an avalanche of execution dates," Julie Vandiver wrote.

The 8th Circuit rejected Jones' and Williams' requests for stays Monday, and the Arkansas Supreme Court said Monday it wouldn't reopen the men's cases and refused to issue stays. Williams' attorneys once again asked the state Supreme Court to reopen the case in a filing late Monday afternoon, arguing that Williams' prior attorney had plagiarized a court filing years ago.

The initial eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a short period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state said the executions needed to be carried out before its supply of the sedative midazolam expires on April 30.

The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000. Oklahoma planned a double execution in 2014 but scrapped plans for the second one after the execution of Clayton Lockett went awry.

Arkansas executed four men in an eight-day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930.

Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.

Authorities said Williams abducted and raped two other women in the days before he was arrested in Errickson's death. Williams admitted responsibility to the state Parole Board last month.

"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.

Jones was given the death penalty for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He strangled her with the cord to a coffee pot.

In a letter earlier this month, Jones said he was ready to be killed by the state.

"I forgive my executioners; somebody has to do it," wrote Jones, who had a leg amputated in prison because of diabetes and uses a wheelchair.

The letter, which his attorney read aloud at his clemency hearing, went on to say: "I shall not ask to be forgiven, for I haven't the right."

Seven people have been executed in the United States this year, four in Texas and one each in Arkansas, Missouri and Virginia. Last year, 20 people were executed, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Associated Press writers Jill Bleed contributed to this report from Little Rock.

Follow Andrew DeMillo at www.twitter.com/ademillo and Kelly P. Kissel at www.twitter.com/kisselap </s> This combination of undated file photos provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction shows death-row inmates Jack Jones, left, and Marcel Williams.

WASHINGTON — If no court steps in, Arkansas is poised to become the first state in more than 15 years to execute two people in one night — just four days after the state held its first execution in more than a decade and just days before one of its execution drugs expires.

At 7 p.m. Central Time, Arkansas is due to execute Jack Jones for the 1995 murder and rape of Mary Phillips during a robbery at her accounting office while her 11-year-old daughter watched.

Shortly thereafter, Marcel Williams is scheduled to be executed for abducting, raping, and killing Stacy Rae Erickson, a 22-year-old mother of two, in 1994.

The Arkansas Supreme Court and US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit had denied all pending requests for stays of execution for both Jones and Williams before 5 p.m. Eastern Time — sending both men's lawyers to the US Supreme Court for a final requests to stop the executions. Should the Supreme Court deny their requests, and no other courts take action to stop the executions, both will be allowed to proceed as planned.



Shortly past 7 p.m. Eastern Time, the US Supreme Court denied both of Jones' requests for a stay of execution. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only noted dissent.

The last state to attempt two executions in one day was Oklahoma. In 2014, the state had scheduled the executions of Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner for the evening of April 29, 2014. However, after Lockett's execution went awry — one of several botched executions using the sedative midazolam in 2014 — Warner's execution was delayed.



On Monday night, as it did last week, Arkansas plans to use the same three drugs in its protocol as Oklahoma had been using that night.

The last state to successfully carry out two executions on one night was Texas — in 2000.

Arkansas, which had scheduled eight executions over a two-week period before its supply of midazolam expires at the end of the month, only conducted one of the four executions it had set for this past week — executing Ledell Lee on April 20.

In addition to Jones and Marcel Williams, the state plans to execute Kenneth Williams on Thursday. A federal judge already halted the originally planned Thursday execution of Jason McGehee, due to issues with the way the condensed execution schedule had altered the state's clemency process. </s> Lawyers for the four men executed by Arkansas in the past week were set on Friday to ask a federal judge to force the state to preserve evidence from its death chamber. The request, the first step towards a thorough investigation, came amid fears that the prisoners might have been subjected to excruciating pain, tantamount to torture.



Arkansas’ unprecedented burst of executions – it tried to carry out eight in 11 days – is over. But it has re-inflamed opposition to the death penalty in the US and sparked a major legal battle, involving drug companies objecting to the use of their products to kill people, that could have long-term consequences.

Eyewitnesses to two of the four executions in Arkansas reported disturbing signs of distress on the part of the condemned men as they were being killed on the gurney. On Thursday night Kenneth Williams’ body shook for up to 20 seconds, with reports of him coughing, convulsing, lurching and jerking in rapid succession. Even when the microphone had been turned off, he could be heard through the viewing glass, moaning and gasping.

Three days before that, Marcel Williams was seen to arch his back countless times and breathe heavily even after a consciousness check was carried out to make sure he was insensate.

Shawn Nolan, a lawyer for Kenneth Williams, said a joint filing would be lodged with a federal court on Friday to oblige the state department of corrections to preserve evidence including materials used in the executions and records of drug levels, timings and so on. He described the death of his client as “horrifying”.

Speaking to the Guardian the morning after the execution, Nolan said: “Our client was effectively tortured last night and that’s not acceptable. The state did this so haphazardly and it went horrifically wrong.”

Asa Hutchinson, the Republican governor who was the architect of what has been called a “conveyor belt of death”, denied that any mishap had occurred. His spokesman described the Kenneth Williams execution as “flawless” and said the prisoner’s convulsions had been the result of an “involuntary muscular reaction”.

But the state’s attempts to put the events of the past 10 days behind it are unlikely to be successful. Campaigners are seizing on the sudden burst of executions in Arkansas as a potentially crucial moment in the fight over the death penalty.

At the heart of that fight are the drugs that are being used by death penalty states across the US. Maya Foa, director of the human rights group Reprieve, which has led the charge against pharmaceutical drugs being used in death chambers, said drug companies had displayed new resolve in standing up to Arkansas.

“Drug companies have shown that they are absolutely prepared to do what it takes to enforce their contracts and ensure that their medicines are not misused – they will stand up to it,” she said.

Two major drug companies, Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp, as well as one of the largest medical supply companies in the US, McKesson, sued the state over its intention to kill people using chemicals designed to save lives. McKesson went furthest, effectively charging the Arkansas department of corrections with lying in order to obtain a batch of one of the drugs used in its triple lethal injection cocktail.

Four of the eight condemned inmates in Arkansas were spared execution – for now – through court-directed stays. They still remain on death row and could have new death warrants issued at any time.

However, Arkansas will struggle to proceed with further killings because its batch of midazolam, the sedative used in the first of its three lethal injections, runs out this weekend and drug companies refuse to provide new supplies.

It is thought the state still has enough of the second drug, vecuronium bromide, to kill up to 13 prisoners by its expiry date next March, and a similar capacity of potassium chloride expiring in August 2018.

Focus now switches to the five death penalty states that have scheduled 15 executions through the remainder of the year: Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. The first of those planned executions, of convicted murderer Ronald Phillips, is set to take place on 10 May in Ohio.

The department of corrections in Ohio does have sufficient quantities of midazolam, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride to carry out multiple executions by triple lethal injection. But condemned prisoners have challenged the state’s death protocol, with a particular emphasis on the first drug, midazolam, that has been associated with several botched killings over the past few years.

The case is currently before the full bench of the federal sixth circuit court of appeals. Unless its judges rule for the state, Ohio’s executions will remain on hold. Lawyers representing the death row inmates are certain to seize on events in Arkansas as further evidence of the problems of midazolam, which as a sedative and not an anaesthetic, is an unusual agent for rendering individuals unconscious.

Allen Bohnert, a federal public defender in Ohio who represents Phillips, said his legal team was looking forward “to presenting compelling evidence to the full sixth circuit panel regarding midazolam’s unsuitability as an execution drug”.

Question marks also remain over the secrecy now universally applied by death penalty states over the source of their drugs. In Arkansas, media witnesses were not allowed to observe the placing of IV lines in the prisoners’ veins, as the death chamber’s curtain remained closed.

The state also failed to provide public information on the precise timing of the three lethal injections. As a result, it was impossible to tell whether Kenneth Williams was fully unconscious at a time when the paralytic second drug and the final potassium chloride were administered. Were he still remotely conscious at the time of the potassium injection, he would have felt a sensation that has been described as similar to a flamethrower shooting fire down his veins.

“It is very disturbing to read witness accounts that Mr Williams was breathing and moving at the time of the consciousness check, because subsequent administration of the paralytic would hide any conscious suffering he experienced,” said Megan McCracken of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley school of law.
• Jacob Rosenberg is a reporter with the Arkansas Times
Kenneth Williams is executed at the Cummins Unit, Arkansas, by injection of midazolam, marking the state's fourth execution within eight days before the drug passes its expiration date.