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Fourth and final Arkansas inmate set to die tonight in week of executions Fourth and final Arkansas inmate Kenneth Williams executed
(about 1 hour later)
The US supreme court has given the go ahead for a fourth execution to be carried out in Arkansas within one week, bringing a bloody end to the state’s controversial attempt to run a “conveyor belt of death” in an aggressive burst of killings unseen in the US for more than half a century. Arkansas has carried out its fourth execution within a week, bringing a bloody end to the state’s controversial attempt to run a “conveyor belt of death” in an aggressive burst of killings unseen in the US for more than half a century.
Kenneth Williams is now certain to die after a day of intense legal hearings in both state and federal courts failed to secure a stay on his sentence. The execution team and witnesses were being assembled on Thursday night in the Cummins unit death chamber in the south-east of the state, ahead of a triple cocktail of lethal injections that will take place within the hour. Kenneth Williams was pronounced dead at 11.05pm local time at the end of a long day of intense legal hearings in both state and federal courts that failed to secure a stay on his sentence. He was administered a triple lethal injection in the Cummins unit death chamber, with the first syringe to have been plunged at 10.52pm.
Lawyers for the inmate had appealed to the US supreme court to stop the execution from going ahead on grounds that Williams is intellectually disabled and as such protected from being put to death. Under Atkins v Virginia, the supreme court prohibited capital punishment for inmates with intellectual disabilities. After the killing was completed, the Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, who had devised the controversial scheme of quickfire executions, proclaimed that “the long path of justice ended tonight. Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked.”
But observers are likely to have anything but confidence in the execution process in Arkansas as doubts have dogged the week’s proceedings. Those doubts are certain to deepen after Thursday night’s killing as witnesses reported that the prisoner shook in the middle of the procedure.
According to media witnesses, about three minutes in to the lethal injection Williams was seen to “shake” for about 10 seconds.
Fears have swirled around the state’s insistence on using midazolam as its first of the three drugs. Midazolam is a sedative and does not have the same properties as anaesthetics used to render people unconsious before hospital surgeries.
During the previous execution of Marcel Williams on Monday, witnesses saw him breathing heavily and arching his back for several minutes. Lawyers representing the death row inmates repeatedly warned that were the prisoner not fully unconscious they could be subjected to excruciating pain as a result of the third drug potassium chloride that stops the heart, yet no-one would know because the second drug vecuronium bromide is a paralytic that makes the individual incapable of any movement.
Kenneth Williams made a lengthy statement before he was killed. He apologised to all his victims’ families, and said: “I was more than wrong. The crimes I perpetrated against you all were senseless, extremely hurtful, and inexcusable. I humbly beg your forgiveness and pray you find the peace, healing, and closure you all deserve.”
He added: “I am not the same person I was. I have been transformed. Some things can’t be undone. I seek forgiveness.” Then he began speaking in tongues.
Earlier in the day, lawyers for the inmate had appealed to the US supreme court to stop the execution from going ahead on grounds that Williams is intellectually disabled and as such protected from being put to death. Under Atkins v Virginia, the supreme court prohibited capital punishment for inmates with intellectual disabilities.
In the petition to the nation’s highest court, Williams’ lawyers argued that he has been examined by several mental health experts who have all found him to be intellectually disabled. Yet the prisoner has repeatedly been denied a hearing on the issue – in effect, his claim to be protected by the US constitution from an unlawful state killing has never been addressed by the judicial system.In the petition to the nation’s highest court, Williams’ lawyers argued that he has been examined by several mental health experts who have all found him to be intellectually disabled. Yet the prisoner has repeatedly been denied a hearing on the issue – in effect, his claim to be protected by the US constitution from an unlawful state killing has never been addressed by the judicial system.
“The state has not offered any evidence or proffered an expert witness to rebut the substantial proof that Mr Williams is intellectually disabled. To think that he can be executed without any court review is simply unimaginable,” said Shawn Nolan, a member of the condemned man’s legal team.“The state has not offered any evidence or proffered an expert witness to rebut the substantial proof that Mr Williams is intellectually disabled. To think that he can be executed without any court review is simply unimaginable,” said Shawn Nolan, a member of the condemned man’s legal team.
Despite the plea, the nation’s highest court through Justice Samuel Alito denied the motion for a stay, thus allowing the execution to proceed. The nine justices, who included President Trump’s nominee Neil Gorsuch approving his fourth execution, did not give a reason for their decision.Despite the plea, the nation’s highest court through Justice Samuel Alito denied the motion for a stay, thus allowing the execution to proceed. The nine justices, who included President Trump’s nominee Neil Gorsuch approving his fourth execution, did not give a reason for their decision.
Williams, 38, was one of eight prisoners who were given death warrants scheduled in rare double executions over an 11-day period this month. Arkansas’ Republican governor Asa Hutchinson attempted to justify the mass execution, unparalleled in death penalty history by anything since 1951, by arguing that a batch of the sedative midazolam used as the first of three drugs in its lethal injection protocol would expire at the end of April. Williams, 38, was one of eight prisoners who were given death warrants scheduled in rare double executions over an 11-day period this month. Hutchinson attempted to justify the mass execution, unparalleled in death penalty history by anything since 1951, by arguing that a batch of the sedative midazolam used as the first of three drugs in its lethal injection protocol would expire at the end of April.
In intense legal jousting that reached up to the US supreme court on numerous occasions, four of the eight condemned prisoners were eventually spared execution in this round of killings. Three men have been put to death: Ledell Lee last week, and Marcel Williams and Jack Jones on Monday night in the first double execution in the US in 16 years.In intense legal jousting that reached up to the US supreme court on numerous occasions, four of the eight condemned prisoners were eventually spared execution in this round of killings. Three men have been put to death: Ledell Lee last week, and Marcel Williams and Jack Jones on Monday night in the first double execution in the US in 16 years.
Williams was sentenced to death for the October 1999 murder of Cecil Boren. He had escaped from Cummins prison, the same institution in which he was set to be executed on Thursday night.Williams was sentenced to death for the October 1999 murder of Cecil Boren. He had escaped from Cummins prison, the same institution in which he was set to be executed on Thursday night.
At the time of the escape and Boren murder, he had already been serving a life sentence for the murder of Dominique Hurd in the previous year. After murdering Boren, he stole his victim’s truck and crashed it into another vehicle, also killing its driver, Michael Greenwood.At the time of the escape and Boren murder, he had already been serving a life sentence for the murder of Dominique Hurd in the previous year. After murdering Boren, he stole his victim’s truck and crashed it into another vehicle, also killing its driver, Michael Greenwood.
On Thursday, Kayla Greenwood, the daughter of the deceased driver, wrote a letter to Hutchinson pleading with him not to go ahead with the Williams execution. “When he took my father from us, Mr Williams caused us all a great deal of pain,” she said.On Thursday, Kayla Greenwood, the daughter of the deceased driver, wrote a letter to Hutchinson pleading with him not to go ahead with the Williams execution. “When he took my father from us, Mr Williams caused us all a great deal of pain,” she said.
“That does not mean that asking you to spare Mr Williams is not the right thing to do. It is.”“That does not mean that asking you to spare Mr Williams is not the right thing to do. It is.”
She went on to reveal that her family had supported the condemned prisoner’s own daughter, Jasmine, to visit him in prison before his scheduled execution. “Jasmine had done nothing at all but like me, she could lose her father,” Kayla Greenwood wrote. “If Mr Williams is executed, her loss, her pain will be as real as mine. I do not wish this on anyone.” She went on to reveal that her family had paid for travel costs to allow the condemned prisoner’s own daughter, Jasmine, to visit him in prison before he died. “Jasmine had done nothing at all but like me, she could lose her father,” Kayla Greenwood wrote. “If Mr Williams is executed, her loss, her pain will be as real as mine. I do not wish this on anyone.”
Williams addressed Kayla Greenwood personally to thank her for such kindness in his statement moments before he was killed. He said: “To Kayla Greenwood and the whole Greenwood family, the acts of grace, forgiveness, and mercy you demonstrated to the person who had taken so much from you by bringing to me in prison my own baby and grandchild right before my scheduled execution. No rapists, murderer, terrorist, butcher, barbarian, not even old Beelzebub himself could withstand such a blast of glorious light and continue to walk in darkness.”
The families of Williams’ other victims, Boren and Hurd, however, did not oppose his execution.The families of Williams’ other victims, Boren and Hurd, however, did not oppose his execution.
In addition to the crushed schedule of so many executions in such short order, the individual killings carried out by Arkansas in the past week have been controversial. Eyewitnesses reported that some of the prisoners were still breathing heavily minutes into the execution, raising possible problems with the first of the triple drugs, midazolam, that has been used in numerous botched killings in the US. In addition to the crushed schedule of so many executions in such short order, the individual killings carried out by Arkansas in the past week have been controversial. As the Fair Punishment Project at Harvard Law School pointed out on Thursday, the three men already killed by Arkansas had potent claims for mitigation claims that the US supreme court itself has made clear must be considered when deciding who is eligible for the ultimate punishment.
As the Fair Punishment Project at Harvard Law School pointed out on Thursday, the three men already killed by Arkansas had potent claims for mitigation – claims that the US supreme court itself has made clear must be considered when deciding who is eligible for the ultimate punishment.
In an amicus brief filed on behalf of Williams, the project wrote: “Arkansas has executed three men, all of whom experienced unspeakable abuse and had significant impairments never presented to a jury. Ledell Lee appeared to have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, borderline intellectual ability, and a plausible but under-investigated innocence claim, but his conflicted counsel, drunk attorney, and mentally ill lawyer all failed to investigate this evidence.”In an amicus brief filed on behalf of Williams, the project wrote: “Arkansas has executed three men, all of whom experienced unspeakable abuse and had significant impairments never presented to a jury. Ledell Lee appeared to have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, borderline intellectual ability, and a plausible but under-investigated innocence claim, but his conflicted counsel, drunk attorney, and mentally ill lawyer all failed to investigate this evidence.”
The brief went on: “Jack Jones had bipolar disorder and a father who beat him and raped his sister. Marcel Williams had a mother who pimped him out to older women for sex starting when Marcel was a pre-teen. The jurors who sentenced these men to death never heard this evidence.”The brief went on: “Jack Jones had bipolar disorder and a father who beat him and raped his sister. Marcel Williams had a mother who pimped him out to older women for sex starting when Marcel was a pre-teen. The jurors who sentenced these men to death never heard this evidence.”
Jacob Rosenberg is a reporter for the Arkansas Times.Jacob Rosenberg is a reporter for the Arkansas Times.