This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/17/arkansas-death-penalty-bruce-ward-don-davis-executions

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Arkansas prepares for flurry of executions despite legal challenges US supreme court blocks Arkansas from flurry of executions
(about 3 hours later)
Arkansas was battling on Monday night to keep to its plan to execute up to seven prisoners in 11 days on track, with a final appeal to the US supreme court to allow it to go ahead with what would be the most intense burst of judicial killing in the US in more than half a century. The US supreme court has refused to allow Arkansas to go ahead with a planned execution on Monday night, preventing the state from embarking on a schedule of putting to death up to six prisoners in 11 days, in what would have been the most intense burst of judicial killings in more than 50 years.
The department of corrections said it was continuing to prepare for the execution of one of the prisoners, Don Davis, on Monday night, should the nation’s top court give the green light. But the Arkansas attorney general’s office confirmed that it had given up the fight to carry out a controversial double execution, conceding that a second inmate, Bruce Ward, would not be put on the gurney that evening. Until the decision came down from the nation’s highest court at 11.50pm, the state had been frantically preparing for the execution of Don Davis, 54, to go ahead. Witnesses had been put in place in the death chamber, and the execution team was readied.
Ward was protected by a separate stay on grounds of mental illness, a roadblock to carrying out the lethal injection in his case that the state accepted it could not overcome in time to meet the scheduled execution date. But when the decision was announced it came as a blow to the audacious ambitions of the state and to the Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, to kill – initially – as many as eight prisoners on four separate dates between now and 27 April. The governor had tried to justify the schedule by pointing to the expiry date of one of its lethal injection drugs, midazolam, at the end of the month.
The Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, was buoyed on Monday evening by a ruling from the eighth circuit appeals court in St Louis, Missouri, which overturned an earlier temporary injunction imposed by a federal judge. That opens up the possibility that at least six executions might still go ahead between now and 30 April when a batch of the sedative midazolam acquired by the state to kill prisoners expires. Davis was convicted of murdering Jane Daniel on 12 October 1990. He broke into her home to rob it, and finding her inside asked her for her possessions and then shot her in the back of the head.
However, the attorney general, Leslie Rutledge, has asked the US supreme court to allow the Davis execution to proceed in a move that has been counter-challenged by the condemned inmate’s attorneys. Asked whether the Davis execution could still take place according to schedule, a spokesman for the department of corrections said: “Never say never.” “What I did was an act of cowardice; it was cold blooded; it was evil,” the condemned man told an interviewer recently. Asked whether he regretted his action, he said: “You have no idea. There is nothing I wouldn’t give to take back moment. There is nothing that I can do.”
The state was still pressing forward with moves to prepare Davis for death on Monday. The prisoner has been transferred from his supermax prison to the Cummins unit in south-west Arkansas that houses the death chamber and on Monday afternoon was offered a final meal of fried chicken, great northern beans, mashed potatoes, fruit punch, and strawberry cake for dessert. Hutchinson had been buoyed on Monday evening by a ruling from the eighth circuit appeals court in St Louis, Missouri, which overturned an earlier temporary injunction imposed by a federal judge. That opened up the possibility that at least six executions might still go ahead between now and the end of April.
Families of Davis’ victim, Jane Daniel, 62, who he murdered in her home in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1990, were also brought to the prison to be ready to witness his demise should the execution go ahead. The attorney general, Leslie Rutledge, asked the US supreme court to allow the Davis execution to proceed in a move that was counter-challenged by the condemned inmate’s attorneys. Asked earlier on Monday evening whether the Davis execution could still take place according to schedule, a spokesman for the department of corrections said: “Never say never.”
The state had still been pressing forward with moves to prepare Davis for death on Monday. The prisoner was transferred from his supermax prison to the Cummins unit in south-west Arkansas that houses the death chamber, and on Monday afternoon was offered a final meal of fried chicken, great northern beans, mashed potatoes, fruit punch, and strawberry cake for dessert.
Families of Davis’ victim were also brought to the prison to be ready to witness his demise should the execution go ahead.
“We’re in place and ready to go for whatever the court rules,” a spokesman for Hutchinson said.“We’re in place and ready to go for whatever the court rules,” a spokesman for Hutchinson said.
Attorneys for Davis were actively fighting to keep him alive, as the state actively pressed to have him killed. An attorney for prisoner, Scott Braden, said that one argument they were using with the US supreme court justices – who now include Neil Gorsuch participating in his first major death penalty decision as the new ninth justice – was that Davis had been denied proper independent counsel on the question of his mental health. Attorneys for Davis had been actively fighting to keep him alive, as the state actively pressed to have him killed. Scott Braden, an attorney for the prisoner, said that one argument they were using with the US supreme court justices – who now include Neil Gorsuch, participating in his first major death penalty decision as the new ninth justice – was that Davis had been denied proper independent counsel on the question of his mental health.
“Mr Davis has organic brain damage, intellectual disability, a history of head injuries, fetal alcohol syndrome, and other severe mental health conditions,” Braden said.“Mr Davis has organic brain damage, intellectual disability, a history of head injuries, fetal alcohol syndrome, and other severe mental health conditions,” Braden said.
Arkansas’ plan to carry out initially eight quick-fire executions in less than two weeks has never before been attempted in the modern era of the US death penalty. Even double executions on the same day are rare – the last time it was attempted, by Oklahoma in 2014, it led to a “bloody mess”.Arkansas’ plan to carry out initially eight quick-fire executions in less than two weeks has never before been attempted in the modern era of the US death penalty. Even double executions on the same day are rare – the last time it was attempted, by Oklahoma in 2014, it led to a “bloody mess”.
Arkansas has not held any executions since 2005. Its highly contentious stance has provoked an outpouring of opposition, including an appearance by actor Johnny Depp at a protest rally on Friday, a critical opinion article from the legal thriller writer and Arkansas native John Grisham, and a stream of impassioned tweets from Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty campaigner who was the subject of the movie Dead Man Walking.Arkansas has not held any executions since 2005. Its highly contentious stance has provoked an outpouring of opposition, including an appearance by actor Johnny Depp at a protest rally on Friday, a critical opinion article from the legal thriller writer and Arkansas native John Grisham, and a stream of impassioned tweets from Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty campaigner who was the subject of the movie Dead Man Walking.
Further protests were to be held outside Hutchinson’s official residence in Little Rock.Further protests were to be held outside Hutchinson’s official residence in Little Rock.
The eighth circuit appeal overturned a 101-page ruling on Saturday by the federal district judge Kristine Baker, in which she questioned the reliability of the sedative midazolam that is used as the first chemical in Arkansas’ triple lethal injection protocol. The drug has been used in recent botched executions in Oklahoma and other states, and its use has been questioned by experts who point out that it is a sedative and not an anesthetic designed to render individuals unconscious. The eighth circuit appeal overturned a 101-page ruling on Saturday by the federal district judge Kristine Baker, in which she questioned the reliability of midazolam, the sedative that is used as the first chemical in Arkansas’ triple lethal injection protocol. The drug has been used in recent botched executions in Oklahoma and other states, and its use has been questioned by experts who point out that it is a sedative and not an anaesthetic designed to render individuals unconscious.
“If midazolam does not adequately anesthetize plaintiffs, or if their executions are ‘botched’, they will suffer severe pain before they die,” Baker wrote in her opinion. “If midazolam does not adequately anaesthetise plaintiffs, or if their executions are ‘botched’, they will suffer severe pain before they die,” Baker wrote in her opinion.
Hutchinson claims the death protocol will be carried out humanely. He has argued the rapid series of executions is necessary to use up a batch of midazolam before it expires on 30 April. Strict distribution controls imposed by more than 30 drug companies in the US and abroad have made it very difficult for death penalty states to lay their hands on medicines for use in the death chamber. Hutchinson has claimed the death protocol would be carried out humanely and argued the rapid series of executions is necessary to use up a batch of midazolam before it expires on 30 April. Strict distribution controls imposed by more than 30 drug companies in the US and abroad have made it very difficult for death penalty states to lay their hands on medicines for use in the death chamber.
The state’s supreme court added more fuel to the fire on Monday when it ordered a circuit judge in Pulaski County to be barred from hearing any further death penalty cases. The judge, Wendell Griffen, had placed an injunction on all the pending executions after McKesson, a major medical supplier, sued the state for misleading it over the acquisition of one of the lethal injection drugs.The state’s supreme court added more fuel to the fire on Monday when it ordered a circuit judge in Pulaski County to be barred from hearing any further death penalty cases. The judge, Wendell Griffen, had placed an injunction on all the pending executions after McKesson, a major medical supplier, sued the state for misleading it over the acquisition of one of the lethal injection drugs.
Later that day, Griffen joined an anti-death penalty protest outside the governor’s mansion and lay down in a cot to simulate the gurney. A disciplinary panel has been asked to address his actions.Later that day, Griffen joined an anti-death penalty protest outside the governor’s mansion and lay down in a cot to simulate the gurney. A disciplinary panel has been asked to address his actions.