Arkansas prepares for 1st double execution in US since 2000
(AP) — Two condemned Arkansas killers who admit they're guilty but fear their poor health could lead to extreme pain during lethal injections set for Monday might become the first inmates put to death in a double execution in the U.S. in more than 16 years.
Jack Jones and Marcel Williams are set to die in what would be the second and third Arkansas inmates executed this month as part of the state's aggressive plan to execute several inmates before one of its lethal injection drugs expires.
The eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a compressed period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
After the setback in a lower court, both inmates on Sunday asked the appeals court to halt their executions based on their poor health.
Lawyers for Jones' say he suffers from diabetes and is on insulin, has high blood pressure, neuropathy and had one leg amputated below the knee.