Arkansas officials vow to pursue executions

Record ID: 645570

  • Title: Arkansas officials vow to pursue executions
  • Date: 18th April 2017
  • Summary: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF U.S. SUPREME COURT
  • Embargoed: 2nd May 2017 11:15
  • Keywords: Arkansas execution death penalty Supreme Court death row
  • Location: GRADY, ARKANSAS; WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES; UNSPECIFIED LOCATION
  • City: GRADY, ARKANSAS; WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES; UNSPECIFIED LOCATION
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016CXCU2V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Arkansas' attorney general and governor said on Tuesday (April 18) they are vowing to pursue a series of executions scheduled over the next two weeks even after the state's Supreme Court halted the first two lethal injections hours before they were to take place.
    Inmates Don Davis and Bruce Ward, both of whom have spent more than 20 years on death row, were scheduled to die on Monday (April 17) night before the Arkansas Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, stayed the executions after their lawyers raised questions about their mental competency.
    Arkansas' Attorney General petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the reprieve granted to Davis. About 20 minutes before the execution warrant for Davis expired, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the request.
    "There's been a lot of talk about the inmates. I would encourage you to remember the victims throughout this process and their families who have had to go through this nightmare for 20, 25, 30 years, and tonight the justice they were hoping to get, they will once again not," J.R. Davis, Spokesman For Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said.
    Arkansas officials said they will go ahead with their plans to execute the remaining six inmates on their current eight-man roster by carrying out dual executions on Thursday (April 20), April 24 and April 27.
    Critics have contended that Arkansas' rush to the death chamber was reckless. The state has said it had to act quickly because one of the drugs in its difficult-to-obtain lethal injection mix, the valium-like sedative midazolam, expires at the end of April.
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