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
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