VARNER, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas wrapped up an accelerated executions schedule with a lethal injection that left the condemned inmate lurching and convulsing before he died, prompting calls for investigations and renewed scrutiny of the state’s efforts to put multiple inmates to death on a compressed timeline.

Kenneth Williams on Thursday became the fourth convicted killer executed in Arkansas in eight days as the state sought to carry out as many lethal injections as possible before one of its drugs expires Sunday.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the execution said that about three minutes in, Williams’ body jerked 15 times in quick succession — lurching violently against the leather restraint across his chest — then the rate slowed for a final five movements.

J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson who did not witness the execution, called the movements “an involuntary muscular reaction” that he said was a widely known effect of the surgical sedative midazolam, the first of three drugs administered.

Williams’ attorneys released a statement calling witness accounts “horrifying” and demanding an investigation into what they called the “problematic execution.”

Arkansas had scheduled eight executions over an 11-day period before one of its lethal injection drugs expires on Sunday. That would have been the most in such a short time since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, but courts issued stays for four of the inmates. The four lethal injections that were carried out included Monday’s first double execution in the United States since 2000.

Williams read a prepared final statement before the execution began, apologizing to the families he “senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones.” He also spoke in tongues, the unintelligible but language-like speech used in some religions. But his prayer faded off as the midazolam took effect. He said, “The words that I speak will forever be, will forever …” before he fell silent.

The inmate breathed heavily through his nose until just after three minutes into his execution, when his chest leaped forward in a series of what seemed like involuntary movements. His right hand never clenched and his face remained what one media witness called “serene.”

After the jerking, Williams breathed through his mouth and moaned or groaned once — during a consciousness check — until falling still seven minutes into the lethal injection.

A Friday morning tweet from the account of a Republican state Sen. Trent Garner, who witnessed the execution, said Williams did not “seem in pain. … It was not cruel, unusual, botched or torture.”

Williams was sentenced to death for killing a former deputy warden, Cecil Boren, after he escaped from prison in 1999. At the time of his escape in a 500-gallon barrel of hog slop, Williams was less than three weeks into a life term for the death of a college cheerleader.

“Any amount of movement he might have had was far less than any of his victims,” said Jodie Efird, one of Boren’s daughters, who witnessed the execution.

State officials have called Arkansas’ string of executions a success, declaring justice served and “closure” for victims’ families. Some concerns had been raised about Monday’s execution of Jack Jones, whose mouth moved after attorneys said he should have been unconscious, though a federal judge determined it did not appear to be “torturous and inhumane.”

All of the Arkansas inmates — including Williams — have died within 20 minutes of their executions beginning, a contrast from troubled midazolam-related executions in other states that took anywhere from 43 minutes to two hours. Though witnesses to those lengthier executions also described hearing inmates breathe heavily, snore or snort or seeing them struggle against their restraints.

“The long path of justice ended tonight and Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked,” Hutchinson said in a statement issued after Williams’ execution.

Davis, the governor’s spokesman, said later that he was sure Hutchinson would follow up “as he does with every execution,” but that the governor was confident the Department of Correction “did what it was supposed to do.”

Davis stood by his previous description of the state’s executions as “flawless.”

Dale Baich, an assistant federal public defender who witnessed a flawed 2014 Arizona execution that took two hours, said in an email early Friday that after reading media reports, “It appears from witness accounts that Mr. Williams was not fully sedated when the paralytic was administered.

“At a minimum, this was a deviation from the protocol.”

Williams’ lawyers had said he had sickle cell trait, lupus and brain damage, and argued the combined maladies could subject him to an exceptionally painful execution in violation of the U.S. Constitution. They argued Arkansas’ “one size fits all” execution protocol could have left him in pain after a paralytic agent rendered him unable to move. State and federal courts rejected the claims.

Williams was sentenced to death for killing Boren after escaping from the Cummins Unit prison in a barrel holding a mishmash of kitchen scraps. He left the prison — where the execution chamber is located in another part of the facility — less than three weeks into a life prison term for killing University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique Hurd in 1998. At the conclusion of that trial, he had taunted the young woman’s family by turning to them after the sentence was announced and saying “You thought I was going to die, didn’t you?”

After jumping from the barrel, he sneaked along a tree line until reaching Boren’s house. He killed Boren, stole guns and Boren’s truck and then drove away to Missouri. There, he crashed into a water-delivery truck, killing the driver. While in prison, he confessed to killing another person in 1998.

At the time of Boren’s death, investigators said it did not appear Boren was targeted because of his former employment by the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Follow Kelly P. Kissel at www.twitter.com/kisselAP and Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo.</s>Arkansas prepared to execute its fourth inmate in eight days Thursday night, wrapping up an accelerated schedule of lethal injections that was set to beat the expiration date of one of the drugs.

Kenneth Williams, 38, was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Thursday, but the state was awaiting word from the U.S. Supreme Court on Williams' last appeals before moving forward. His death warrant expires at midnight.

Court filings Thursday afternoon followed two threads: that Arkansas executions this week were so flawed that there is little doubt Williams will suffer as he dies, and that he has an intellectual disability that would make him ineligible for execution.

So far, courts have ruled against him, with both the Arkansas Supreme Court and a federal appeals court rejecting Williams' requests for stays. His appeals were pending at the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal judge turned back a last-minute request to stop the execution.

A spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson says the state will not proceed with the execution until the high court weighs in.

If Williams dies, it would be Arkansas' fourth execution in eight days after not conducting one since 2005. Two of the men died in a double execution Monday, the nation's first since 2000.

State officials have said the three executions already conducted — of Ledell Lee, Jack Jones Jr. and Marcel Williams — didn't go awry. And their lawyers told the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday that while tests showed Kenneth Williams might have "low average" intelligence, he didn't cooperate fully with the doctors testing him. They also said Williams' previous lawyers "unequivocally abandoned" a similar claim because testing showed he wasn't intellectually disabled. The 8th Circuit judges agreed and refused to stop the execution.

Williams' lawyers say he has sickle cell trait, lupus and brain damage, and that the combined maladies could subject him to an exceptionally painful execution in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Arkansas' "one size fits all" execution protocol could leave him in pain after a paralytic agent renders him unable to move, they say.

"After the state injects Mr. Williams with vecuronium bromide ... most or all of the manifestations of his extreme pain and suffering will not be discernible to witnesses," they wrote to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which rejected his request to stop the execution.

Also Thursday, Harvard Law School's Fair Punishment Project asked to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Williams' request, arguing that his claims of intellectual disability have not been fully explored.

The attorney general's office described Williams' appeal as "procedural gamesmanship" to put off the execution.

Under Hutchinson's initial plan, Arkansas would have put eight men to death in an 11-day period — the nation's fastest pace since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976. Courts issued stays for four of the inmates.

In one court filing, Williams' lawyers pointed to Monday's execution of Jones, during which his mouth moved after he should have been unconscious, they argued. Jones' spiritual adviser called it "a sort of gurgling" while an observer from the state attorney general's office said it was "snoring; deep, deep sleep." A federal judge dismissed a challenge to the night's second execution, saying Jones' execution did not appear to be "torturous and inhumane" in violation of constitutional standards.

The inmate's lawyers also cited problems with Monday's second execution, during which Marcel Williams' head tilted back slightly as he breathed deeply and, three minutes after his execution started, his head turned slightly to the left. One witness said it appeared the inmate arched his back. Another said his breathing included "jerky motions." An Associated Press reporter in the room noted four quick breaths at one point.

Wendy Kelley, director of the Arkansas Department of Correction, said in an affidavit Thursday that she saw none of that activity.

Kenneth Williams was sentenced to death for killing former deputy warden Cecil Boren after escaping from the Cummins Unit prison in a 500-gallon barrel of hog slop in 1999. He left the prison less than three weeks into a life term for killing University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique Hurd in 1998.

After jumping from the barrel of kitchen scraps, he sneaked along a tree line until he reached Boren's house. He killed Boren, stole guns and Boren's truck, then drove to Missouri. There, he crashed into a water-delivery truck, killing the driver, Michael Greenwood. While in prison, he confessed to killing another person in 1998.

Greenwood's family wrote to Hutchinson asking him to delay Williams' execution so it could ask the Arkansas Parole Board to recommend clemency for the inmate. In a last-minute court filing, Williams' attorneys said he should receive a stay because the Greenwood family was not notified of his clemency hearing last month, but a federal judge rejected that request Thursday night.

"When he took my father from us, Mr. Williams caused us all a great deal of pain," wrote Kayla Greenwood, who was 5 when her father died. "We still miss him and we still hurt. That does not mean that asking you (to) spare Mr. Williams is not the right thing to do. It is."

Hutchinson said in a statement that while he appreciated Greenwood's "genuine spirit of forgiveness and compassion," he had to consider viewpoints from other victims' families, including Boren's.

"Kenneth Williams murdered multiple people, and actions have consequences," the governor said.

At the time of Boren's death, investigators said it did not appear Boren was targeted because of his former employment by the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Associated Press writer Jill Bleed contributed to this report from Little Rock.</s>VARNER, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas executed its fourth inmate in eight days Thursday night, wrapping up an accelerated schedule with a lethal injection that left the prisoner lurching and convulsing 20 times before he died.

Kenneth Williams, 38, was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m., 13 minutes after the execution began at the Cummins Unit prison at Varner.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the lethal injection said Williams’ body jerked 15 times in quick succession, then the rate slowed for a final five movements. J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson who did not witness the execution, called it “an involuntary muscular reaction” that he said was a widely known effect of one of the execution drugs.

Arkansas had scheduled eight executions over an 11-day period before one of its lethal injection drugs expires on Sunday. That would have been the most in such a compressed period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, but courts issued stays for four of the inmates.

The four lethal injections that were carried out included Monday’s first double execution in the United States since 2000.

“I extend my sincerest of apologies to the families I have senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones,” Williams said in a final statement he read from the death chamber. “… I was more than wrong. The crimes I perpetrated against you all was senseless, extremely hurtful and inexcusable.”

Williams also spoke in tongues during his last statement, but his prayer faded off as the sedative midazolam took effect. His final words were, “The words that I speak will forever be, will forever …” before he fell silent.

The inmate breathed heavily through his nose until just after three minutes into his execution, when his chest leaped forward in a series of what seemed like involuntary movements. His right hand never clenched and his face remained what one media witness called “serene.”

After the jerking, Williams breathed through his mouth and moaned or groaned once — during a consciousness check — until falling still seven minutes into the lethal injection.

Williams was sentenced to death for killing a former deputy warden, Cecil Boren, after he escaped from prison in 1999. At the time of his escape in a 500-gallon barrel of hog slop, Williams was less than three weeks into a life term for the death of a college cheerleader.

“Any kind of movement he had was far less than his victims,” said Jodie Efird, one of Boren’s daughters, who witnessed the execution.

State officials have declared the string of executions a success, using terms like “closure” for the victims’ families. The inmates have died within 20 minutes of their executions beginning, a contrast from midazolam-related executions in other states that took anywhere from 43 minutes to two hours. The inmates’ lawyers have said there are still flaws and that there is no certainty that the inmates aren’t suffering while they die.

“The long path of justice ended tonight and Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked,” Hutchinson said in a statement issued after the execution. “Carrying out the penalty of the jury in the Kenneth Williams case was necessary. There has never been a question of guilt.”

Arkansas scheduled the executions for the final two weeks of April because its supply of midazolam, normally a surgical sedative, expires on Sunday. The Arkansas Department of Correction has said it has no new source for the drug — though it has made similar remarks previously yet still found a new stash.

Williams’ lawyers said he had sickle cell trait, lupus and brain damage, and argued the combined maladies could subject him to an exceptionally painful execution in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Arkansas’ “one size fits all” execution protocol could leave him in pain after a paralytic agent renders him unable to move, they’d argued.

“After the state injects Mr. Williams with vecuronium bromide … most or all of the manifestations of his extreme pain and suffering will not be discernible to witnesses,” they wrote to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which rejected his request to stop the execution.

The U.S. Supreme Court also denied requests for a stay, including one that argued his claims of intellectual disability had not been fully explored.

Williams was sentenced to death for killing Boren after escaping from the Cummins Unit prison in a barrel holding a mishmash of kitchen scraps. He left the prison — where the execution chamber is located in another part of the facility — less than three weeks into a life prison term for killing University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique Hurd in 1998. At the conclusion of that trial, he had taunted the young woman’s family by turning to them after the sentence was announced and saying “You thought I was going to die, didn’t you?”

After jumping from the barrel, he sneaked along a tree line until reaching Boren’s house. He killed Boren, stole guns and Boren’s truck and then drove away to Missouri. There, he crashed into a water-delivery truck, killing the driver. While in prison, he confessed to killing another person in 1998.

At the time of Boren’s death, investigators said it did not appear Boren was targeted because of his former employment by the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo and Kelly P. Kissel at www.twitter.com/kisselAP</s>Know Your Value</s>Arkansas has put to death convicted murderer Kenneth Williams. His was the last of a series of executions accelerated because the state's lethal-injection drugs were about to expire.

Williams was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m. Central time after the execution began at 10:52 p.m., Arkansas Public Media reports.

State officials initially scheduled eight condemned inmates to die over 11 days — the fastest pace of executions in decades. Some executions were blocked by the courts.

The state accelerated the schedule because its supply of midazolam expires at the end of April and has been hard to acquire for death penalty purposes.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson pressed for the fast pace of executions and said that they are a way to bring justice for the families of the victims. In a statement issued shortly after officials announced Williams' execution had been carried out, Hutchinson said:



"The long path of justice ended tonight and Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked. Carrying out the penalty of the jury in the Kenneth Williams case was necessary. There has never been a question of guilt."



Family members of the victim thanked Gov. Hutchinson and the Arkansas Department of Correction for "flawlessly carrying out" the execution, member station KUAR Public Radio reports.

Williams "lurched and convulsed 20 times during the lethal injection," according to an Associated Press reporter who witnessed the execution. "A prison spokesman said he shook for approximately 10 seconds, about three minutes into the procedure," the AP reports.

The spokesman for Gov. Hutchinson, J.R. Davis, responded that Williams' reaction was a "known" involuntary reaction to one of the drugs used, KUAR reports.

Critics have characterized the packed schedule as reckless and error-prone. Hours before the execution, Williams' lawyers continued to try to stop it.

A filing Thursday morning at the Circuit Court of Pulaski County said Williams had medical conditions such as "sickle cell trait, Lupus and organic brain damage" that make complications more likely during an execution by lethal injection.

Ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court, in a two-sentence order issued late Thursday night, denied the application for a stay of execution, clearing the way for the execution to proceed.

Williams, 38, was "serving a life sentence for the 1998 murder of a college student when he escaped from prison and killed a local farmer, for which he was sentenced to death," KUAR's Chris Hickey tells our Newscast unit.

"All of his crimes were described as random with money as the motive," according to local broadcaster Fox 16. The station added that he was moved to the Cummins unit Wednesday in preparation for the execution.

On Monday night, Arkansas put to death two inmates — Marcel Williams and Jack Jones Jr. It was the first double execution in the U.S. in 17 years. As The Two-Way previously reported:</s>VARNER, Ark. (AP) — US Supreme Court won’t block Arkansas execution, clearing way for state’s 4th in 8 days.</s>LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CN) – Arkansas on Thursday night executed its fourth man in eight days, concluding its plan that called for eight prisoners to die by lethal injection before a key drug expires at the end of April.

Kenneth Williams, 38, was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m. Central Standard Time, 13 minutes after the execution began. The execution, scheduled for 7 p.m., was delayed while the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed Williams’ requests to block his death sentence.

Williams was sentenced to death for the 1999 killing and robbery of Cecil Boren, 18 days after Williams escaped from prison in Lincoln County, where he was serving a life sentence for killing university cheerleader Dominique Hurd. Williams is also responsible for killing motorist Michael Greenwood during a high-speed police chase.

He was the fourth man Arkansas killed in eight days, when its plan to kill eight over 11 days faltered due to legal challenges. The state’s supply of midazolam, a sedative, expires on Sunday. It is the first of three drugs Arkansas uses to kill people.

Jack Harold Jones, 52, and Marcel Wayne Williams, 46, were killed Monday night, 3 hours apart, the nation’s first double execution in 17 years.

The U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday cleared the way for Williams’ execution after he unsuccessfully petitioned the Eighth Circuit for a stay.

The Arkansas Supreme Court also denied Williams’ requests and Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie M. Pierce dismissed a complaint filed Thursday morning that claimed Williams’ execution could cause him unconstitutional pain and suffering because of his “unique medical conditions.” Williams suffered from sickle cell trait, lupus and organic brain damage, according to court filings.

Williams’ attorneys have claimed for years that he is mentally disabled and ineligible for the death penalty. They said in the Pulaski County complaint that, like the Monday night execution of Marcel Williams, their client’s execution would cause him to “be tortured to death and endure severe pain and suffering due to his unique medical conditions and as a result of the state’s failure to humanely apply its execution protocol.”

“The state has not offered any evidence or proffered an expert witness to rebut the substantial proof that Mr. Williams is intellectually disabled,” said Shawn Nolan, whose office was appointed to represent Williams. “Unfortunately, the courts have simply refused to allow Mr. Williams to prove his intellectual disability, a disability that would prohibit his execution.”

“Tonight the rule of law was upheld as the family of Cecil Boren saw justice done,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said late Thursday night. “On October 3, 1999, Cecil was simply going about his daily life at his home near the Cummins Prison Unit when he was shot and killed by an escapee who was serving life imprisonment without parole for capital murder.

“I pray this lawful execution will bring closure and peace to the Boren family,” Rutledge said.

Williams was the 200th person executed in Arkansas since it began capital punishment in 1913, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Before last week, the state had not executed a prisoner since November 2005.</s>Kenneth William's death wraps up an aggressive execution schedule set to beat expiry of drug used in lethal injection.

Arkansas has wrapped up an aggressive execution schedule, putting to death its fourth inmate in eight days, hours after a last minute motion to halt his execution failed before the US Supreme Court.

Kenneth Williams, 38, received a lethal injection on Thursday night at the Cummins Unit prison at Varner for the killing of a former deputy warden in 1999.

He was pronounced dead at 11:05pm, 13 minutes after the execution began.

Arkansas had initially held off on executing Williams, who was scheduled to die at 7pm local time, as officials awaited word from the Supreme Court. His death warrant was set to expire at midnight.

A few minutes after 10pm, the court ruled to deny the petitions, without elaborating on its decisions.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed Thursday's execution said Williams lurched and convulsed 20 times during the lethal injection. A prison spokesman said he shook for approximately 10 seconds, about three minutes into the procedure.

READ MORE: Arkansas carries out first double execution since 2000

"I extend my sincerest of apologies to the families I have senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones," Williams said in a final statement he read from the death chamber. "... I was more than wrong. The crimes I perpetrated against you all was senseless, extremely hurtful and inexcusable."

Arkansas had scheduled eight executions over an 11-day period before one of its lethal injection drugs expires at the end of April - the nation's fastest pace since the Supreme Court reauthorised the death penalty in 1976. Courts issued stays for four of the inmates.

Among the four lethal injections was Monday's first double execution in the United States since 2000.

State officials have declared the string of executions a success, using terms like "closure" for the victims' families.

The inmates have died within 20 minutes of their executions' beginning, a contrast from midazolam-related executions in other states that took anywhere from 43 minutes to two hours. The inmates' lawyers have said there are still flaws and that there is no certainty that the inmates aren't suffering while they die.

"The long path of justice ended tonight and Arkansans can reflect on the last two weeks with confidence that our system of laws in this state has worked," Governor Asa Hutchinson said in a statement issued after the execution. "Carrying out the penalty of the jury in the Kenneth Williams case was necessary. There has never been a question of guilt."

Arkansas scheduled the executions for the final two weeks of April because its supply of midazolam, normally a surgical sedative, expires on Sunday.

The Arkansas Department of Correction has said it has no new source for the drug - though it has made similar remarks previously yet still found a new stash.

READ MORE: The struggle against America's racist death row

Court filings by Williams on Thursday afternoon followed two threads: that Arkansas executions this week were so flawed that there is little doubt Williams will suffer as he dies, and that he has an intellectual disability that would make him ineligible for execution.

He was sentenced to death for killing former deputy warden Cecil Boren after escaping from the Cummins Unit prison in a 1,800-litre barrel of hog slop in 1999. He left the prison less than three weeks into a life term for killing University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique Hurd in 1998.

At the conclusion of that trial, he had taunted the young woman's family by turning to them after the sentence was announced and saying "You thought I was going to die, didn't you?"

After jumping from the barrel of kitchen scraps, he sneaked along a tree line until he reached Boren's house. He killed Boren, stole guns and Boren's truck, then drove to Missouri.

There, he crashed into a water-delivery truck, killing the driver, Michael Greenwood. While in prison, he confessed to killing another person in 1998.</s>Arkansas executed its fourth inmate in a week, ending a frantic schedule caused by the looming expiration of the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs.

Kenneth Williams, 38, was initially sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of Dominique Hurd, a university cheerleader. He was later convicted of capital murder after he escaped from prison and killed Cecil Boren .

Boren’s daughter, Jodie Efird, watched the execution Thursday night from the death chamber. She said while it may not bring closure, it helps a little.

“Every time we drive down this road, he’s not here anymore,” she said of Williams.

During the execution, Williams expressed remorse in his final words.

“I was more than wrong. The crime I perpetrated against you all was senseless,” Williams said, according to CNN affiliate KATV.

He died by lethal injection at 11:05 p.m. local time, the last of eight inmates originally scheduled to be put to death this month.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson had put a temporary hold on Williams’ execution Thursday evening to allow the US Supreme Court to consider motions for stays of execution. The court denied all the motions.

Williams was convicted in the 1998 killing of Hurd, the university cheerleader.

In 1999, he escaped from Cummins prison and killed Cecil Boren at his home just a couple miles away. He was captured after causing a traffic accident that killed a driver, Michael Greenwood of Missouri. He was convicted of capital murder for Boren’s death in 2000.

Boren’s widow said earlier that she planned to witness the execution.

“We just live 2 miles from the prison. … Every time I go up and down the highway, I know he’s there,” Gail Boren told CNN affiliate KATV.

“We are looking forward to this happening so we can put it behind us.”

Seventeen years after that conviction, Williams was executed at the same Cummins prison he escaped from.

Arkansas’ supply of sedatives used in the lethal injection expires at the end of the month. The state is facing a scarcity of lethal injection drugs as it struggles with suppliers that don’t want their products used in executions.

Of the eight inmates scheduled to die, the courts had issued injunctions staying four of those executions for various reasons.

Ledell Lee, Jack Jones and Marcel Williams, and Kenneth Williams, were executed April 20, Monday and Thursday, respectively.

Jones and Marcel Williams were both executed Monday for murders committed in the 1990s, while Lee was killed April 20. Lee was convicted in 1995 of murdering a woman in her home two years earlier.

Williams and the other seven death row inmates initially fought their executions on the grounds that midazolam, the sedative Arkansas is using to render inmates unconscious, does not reliably prevent a painful death. The Arkansas Supreme Court denied the claim.

States generally didn’t use midazolam in the past, but they’ve turned to it as drug makers clamped down on the use of other drugs in executions.

Lethal injection traditionally required a three-drug cocktail: The first (sodium thiopental or pentobarbital) put the prisoner to sleep; the second (pancuronium bromide) brought on paralysis; and the final agent (potassium chloride) stopped the heart.

But manufacturers and European countries started withholding sodium thiopental and pentobarbital, saying they didn’t want them used in executions. Arkansas and other states turned to midazolam as an alternative to the anesthetic.

It’s unclear whether Arkansas will receive fresh supplies of midazolam after its current batch expires. One manufacturer, West-Ward Pharmacueticals, filed a brief in support of the eight inmates this month, saying it tries to ensure its midazolam isn’t used in executions.

One of the media witnesses, Donna Terrell of FOX 16 in Little Rock, told CNN affiliate KARK that after the midazolam was injected, Williams’ chest started going up and down rapidly.

It continued for several minutes, Terrell said, from 10:55 pm to 10:59 pm, at which point it appeared he stopped breathing, or it was no longer noticeable.

Even though the microphone was turned off, Terrell said, the witnesses could still hear heavy breathing.

But there was no expression on Williams’ face. It didn’t appear as if he was in pain, she said.

“While the rest of the country and the world moves away from the death penalty, Arkansas has shown just how committed it is to running in the wrong direction,” said James Clark, a senior campaigner at Amnesty International USA. “While it is too late for Kenneth Williams, Jack Jones, Marcel Williams, and Ledell Lee, it is not too late to commute the sentences of all of those remaining on death row.</s>(VARNER, Ark.) — Arkansas prepared to execute its fourth inmate in eight days Thursday night, wrapping up an accelerated schedule of lethal injections that was set to beat the expiration date of one of the drugs.

Kenneth Williams , 38, was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Thursday, but the state was awaiting word from the U.S. Supreme Court on Williams' last appeals before moving forward. His death warrant expires at midnight.

Court filings Thursday afternoon followed two threads: that Arkansas executions this week were so flawed that there is little doubt Williams will suffer as he dies, and that he has an intellectual disability that would make him ineligible for execution.

So far, courts have ruled against him, with both the Arkansas Supreme Court and a federal appeals court rejecting Williams' requests for stays. His appeals were pending at the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal judge turned back a last-minute request to stop the execution.

A spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson says the state will not proceed with the execution until the high court weighs in.

If Williams dies, it would be Arkansas' fourth execution in eight days after not conducting one since 2005. Two of the men died in a double execution Monday, the nation's first since 2000.

Read More: Former Warden: Arkansas Execution Rush Is Dangerous and Risky

State officials have said the three executions already conducted — of Ledell Lee, Jack Jones Jr. and Marcel Williams — didn't go awry. And their lawyers told the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday that while tests showed Kenneth Williams might have "low average" intelligence, he didn't cooperate fully with the doctors testing him. They also said Williams' previous lawyers "unequivocally abandoned" a similar claim because testing showed he wasn't intellectually disabled. The 8th Circuit judges agreed and refused to stop the execution.

Williams' lawyers say he has sickle cell trait, lupus and brain damage, and that the combined maladies could subject him to an exceptionally painful execution in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Arkansas' "one size fits all" execution protocol could leave him in pain after a paralytic agent renders him unable to move, they say.

"After the state injects Mr. Williams with vecuronium bromide ... most or all of the manifestations of his extreme pain and suffering will not be discernible to witnesses," they wrote to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which rejected his request to stop the execution.

Also Thursday, Harvard Law School's Fair Punishment Project asked to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Williams' request, arguing that his claims of intellectual disability have not been fully explored.

The attorney general's office described Williams' appeal as "procedural gamesmanship" to put off the execution.

Under Hutchinson's initial plan, Arkansas would have put eight men to death in an 11-day period — the nation's fastest pace since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976. Courts issued stays for four of the inmates.

In one court filing, Williams' lawyers pointed to Monday's execution of Jones, during which his mouth moved after he should have been unconscious, they argued. Jones' spiritual adviser called it "a sort of gurgling" while an observer from the state attorney general's office said it was "snoring; deep, deep sleep." A federal judge dismissed a challenge to the night's second execution, saying Jones' execution did not appear to be "torturous and inhumane" in violation of constitutional standards.

Read More: Arkansas Executions: What's Next for the Inmates Who Were Scheduled to Die

The inmate's lawyers also cited problems with Monday's second execution, during which Marcel Williams' head tilted back slightly as he breathed deeply and, three minutes after his execution started, his head turned slightly to the left. One witness said it appeared the inmate arched his back. Another said his breathing included "jerky motions." An Associated Press reporter in the room noted four quick breaths at one point.

Wendy Kelley, director of the Arkansas Department of Correction, said in an affidavit Thursday that she saw none of that activity.

Kenneth Williams was sentenced to death for killing former deputy warden Cecil Boren after escaping from the Cummins Unit prison in a 500-gallon barrel of hog slop in 1999. He left the prison less than three weeks into a life term for killing University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique Hurd in 1998.

After jumping from the barrel of kitchen scraps, he sneaked along a tree line until he reached Boren's house. He killed Boren, stole guns and Boren's truck, then drove to Missouri. There, he crashed into a water-delivery truck, killing the driver, Michael Greenwood. While in prison, he confessed to killing another person in 1998.

Greenwood's family wrote to Hutchinson asking him to delay Williams' execution so it could ask the Arkansas Parole Board to recommend clemency for the inmate. In a last-minute court filing, Williams' attorneys said he should receive a stay because the Greenwood family was not notified of his clemency hearing last month, but a federal judge rejected that request Thursday night.

"When he took my father from us, Mr. Williams caused us all a great deal of pain," wrote Kayla Greenwood, who was 5 when her father died. "We still miss him and we still hurt. That does not mean that asking you (to) spare Mr. Williams is not the right thing to do. It is."

Hutchinson said in a statement that while he appreciated Greenwood's "genuine spirit of forgiveness and compassion," he had to consider viewpoints from other victims' families, including Boren's.

"Kenneth Williams murdered multiple people, and actions have consequences," the governor said.

At the time of Boren's death, investigators said it did not appear Boren was targeted because of his former employment by the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Associated Press writer Jill Bleed contributed to this report from Little Rock.
Kenneth Williams is executed at the Cummins Unit, Arkansas, by injection of midazolam, marking the state's fourth execution within eight days before the drug passes its expiration date.