The state of Arkansas plans to execute two inmates on Monday evening, which would make it
the first U.S. state in 17 years to put a pair of convicts to death on the same day.
A flurry of last-minute legal appeals at both the state and federal level are expected, though their likelihood of success may have diminished with the recent appointment of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The high court cleared the way last week for Arkansas to hold its first execution in 12 years and the state carried out the death penalty on convicted murderer Ledell Lee.
Jack Jones, sentenced in 1996 for
raping and strangling Mary Phillips and attempting to murder her 11-year-old daughter, is scheduled to be put to death at 7 p.m at the Cummins Unit prison, about 75 miles southeast of the state capital of Little Rock. Jones was also convicted of rape and murder in Florida.
At 8:15 p.m., the state is tentatively scheduled to execute Marcel Williams, who was sentenced to death in 1997 for
kidnapping, raping and murdering Stacy Errickson. He also abducted and raped two other women.
The last time a state executed two inmates on the same day was 2000 in Texas.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-arkansas-execution-idUSKBN17Q0CO
