Board recommends rejecting clemency for 2 Arkansas inmates
Source: Associated Press
Andrew Demillo, Associated Press Updated 4:42 pm, Monday, March 27, 2017
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Parole Board recommended Monday that the governor reject long-shot bids for clemency by two of inmates facing lethal injection next month, as a new lawsuit challenges the state's unprecedented plan to conduct four double executions over a 10-day period.
The board told Gov. Asa Hutchinson the clemency requests by convicted murderers Stacey Eugene Johnson and Ledell Lee were without merit. The ultimate decision on whether to spare the men's lives rests with Hutchinson, who scheduled the executions last month.
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The eight inmates asked a federal judge earlier Monday to block the state's unprecedented plan, arguing that the execution schedule and Arkansas' planned use of the controversial sedative midazolam violates their constitutional rights. The state's current stock of midazolam expires at the end of April.
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Arkansas hasn't executed an inmate in more than a decade because of court challenges and difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs. The state hasn't carried out a double execution since 1999, and while Texas has executed eight people in a month — twice in 1997 — no state in the modern era has executed that many prisoners in 10 days.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Arkansas-inmates-ask-judge-to-halt-4-double-11030876.php
