On Monday Arkansas executed two death row inmates. This would be the first double execution in the U.S since 2000.
The two men executed were Jack Jones and Marcel Williams.
Jones was on death row for the rape and killing of Marry Phillips in 1995. He also attempted to kill her 11-year-old daughter. Â He was also convicted of a separate rape and murder in Florida.
Marcel Williams was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of the 22-year-old Stacy Errickson in 1997.
Williams attorney tried to block his execution by claiming that Jones was gasping for air when he was being executed. The idea of the death penalty in the U.S is that it needs to be somewhat humane and can’t be a tortuous form of death. There attempts to block it failed and Williams was pronounced dead at 10:33 pm Monday evening.
Arkansas is rushing to execute as many death row inmates before the end of April and their supply of midazolam goes bad. This has outraged many human rights groups. Midazolam doesn’t have a 100% success rate in giving a clean painless death. Human rights group bring up the fact that Midazolam was used in the botched executions in Oklahoma and Arizona. In both of these cases, the victims seemed to be in great pain while on the gurney.
