Image copyright AFP Image caption Jack Jones (L) and Marcel Williams have both been on death row since the mid-1990s

The state of Arkansas has executed two prisoners on death row after the US Supreme Court rejected their last-minute appeals.

Jack Jones and Marcel Williams were both sentenced to death for rapes and murders committed in the 1990s.

Arkansas controversially scheduled eight sudden executions when it found out its supply of a drug used in lethal injections expires in late April.

It is the first double execution on the same day in the US for 17 years.

The state's decision to plan eight executions in just 11 days was prompted by the realisation that its stockpile of midazolam - one of three drugs used together in lethal injections - would expire at the end of the month.

Human rights groups, defence lawyers, and drug companies all objected to the decision.

But on Thursday, Ledell Lee became the first person to be executed in Arkansas since 2005, after the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the scheduling of the executions and the Arkansas Supreme Court overturned a ruling blocking the use of a different drug.

'Inhumane' executions

Both Jack Jones and Marcel Williams had filed their own legal challenges before their executions on Monday night.

Attorneys for Jones had argued he could suffer from a "torturous death" because he may be resistant to midazolam.

Lawyers for Williams had said it might be difficult to find a vein on their client for the lethal injection because of his 400lb (180kg) weight.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The widower of Jack Jones' victim has no sympathy for him. "My wife suffered big time," says James Phillips

Williams was sentenced to death in 1997 for kidnapping, raping and murdering Stacy Errickson. He also abducted and raped two other women.

His execution was put on hold minutes before he was scheduled to die, as his lawyers raised concerns that Jones' execution had been "inhumane".

But a district judge allowed the execution to go ahead after a brief hearing.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Ledell Lee maintained his innocence until his death

Williams' lawyers said that Jones was still moving more than five minutes after he received the injection that was supposed to make him unconscious.

But other witnesses quoted by local media disputed their version of events, arguing that Jones had showed no signs of distress.

Jones was convicted in 1996 of raping and strangling Mary Phillips and attempting to murder her 11-year-old daughter.

In his final utterance, he apologised to the girl he nearly killed, who is now an adult.

"I hope over time you could learn who I really am and I am not a monster," witnesses quoted him as saying.

But the victim's widower told the BBC justice had been served.

"It will never bring back Mary," James Phillips said, "and we knew that our main concern was we promised her we'd be on the front row of justice when justice was served.

"And it took too long, but we finally got it.

"I really do feel for his [Jack Jones'] family, too, and I know it has to be hard on his side - both sides of the family."

The two men were among eight that the state wanted to execute over the course of 11 days in April before its supplies of midazolam expired.

Four of the scheduled executions have been delayed by the courts. Another is scheduled for Thursday 27 April.

Like many US states, Arkansas has struggled to find the drugs it needs to carry out executions.

One of the legal challenges to the series of executions was lodged by McKesson Corporation, which makes the drug vecuronium bromide - part of the three-drug lethal injection cocktail.

The company claimed that the state had intentionally misled them, saying the drug would be used in health clinics for medical purposes. When McKesson found out it would be used in executions, it said it issued a refund and demanded the chemical be returned - which it never was. The state made no comment on the claims.

"We believe we have done all we can do at this time to recover our product," the company said in a statement after the state Supreme Court overturned a brief injunction.

Human rights groups have been heavily critical of the accelerated pace of executions.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The eight men that Arkansas plans to execute

Amnesty International said Arkansas' decision was a "shameful backslide against prevailing trends away from the death penalty".

Ahead of Monday's executions, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union had called for them, and the execution scheduled for Thursday, to be cancelled.

"Carrying out these three executions on this schedule will violate the individualized consideration that the constitution and justice require and further overstep the bounds of basic human dignity," Cassandra Stubbs wrote.

But earlier in April, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said he was fulfilling his responsibilities.

"I have a responsibility to the voters, I have a responsibility to my oath of office, but I also have responsibility to a higher power, God and eternity, and I understand that," he said.

"I feel comfortable in my understanding of my responsibilities both in terms of faith and scripture and in terms of as governor."</s>After going nearly 12 years without executing an inmate, Arkansas now has executed three in a few days - including two in one night.Jack Jones and Marcel Williams received lethal injections on the same gurney Monday night, just about three hours apart. It was the first double execution in the United States since 2000.While Jones, 52, was executed on schedule, shortly after 7 p.m., attorneys for Williams, 46, convinced a federal judge minutes later to briefly delay his execution over concerns about how the earlier one was carried out. They claimed Jones "was moving his lips and gulping for air," an account the state's attorney general denied, but the judge lifted her stay about an hour later and Williams was pronounced dead at 10:33 p.m.In the emergency filing, Williams' attorneys wrote that officials spent 45 minutes trying to place an IV line in Jones' neck before placing it elsewhere. It argued that Williams, who weighs 400 pounds, could have faced a "torturous" death because of his weight.Intravenous lines are placed before witnesses are allowed access to the death chamber.An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the execution said Jones moved his lips briefly after the midazolam was administered, and officials put a tongue depressor in his mouth intermittently for the first few minutes. His chest stopped moving two minutes after they checked for consciousness, and he was pronounced dead at 7:20 p.m.Asked why Jones' lips moved, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves said he understood that the inmate was apologizing to the department director, Wendy Kelley, and thanking her for the way she treated him.Williams was already in the death chamber when the temporary stay was issued. He was escorted out of the chamber and used the restroom, then was brought back in after the stay was lifted.Initially, Gov. Asa Hutchinson scheduled four double executions over an 11-day period in April. The eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a compressed period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state said the executions needed to be carried out before its supply of one lethal injection drug expires on April 30.Besides the two executions Monday, Arkansas put to death one other inmate last week and has a final one scheduled for Thursday. Four others have been blocked.Before last week, Arkansas hadn't had an execution since 2005 or a double execution since 1999.Jones, who'd argued that his health conditions could lead to a painful death, gave a lengthy last statement. His final words were: "I'm sorry.""I hope over time you can learn who I really am and I am not a monster," he said in the roughly 2-minute statement.Williams declined to make a final statement.Jones was sent to death row for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He strangled her with the cord to a coffee pot.He was also convicted of attempting to kill Phillips' 11-year-old daughter and was convicted in another rape and killing in Florida.Jones said earlier this month that he was ready for execution. He used a wheelchair and he'd had a leg amputated in prison because of diabetes.Williams' "morbid obesity makes it likely that either the IV line cannot be placed or that it will be placed in error, thus causing substantial damage (like a collapsed lung)," his attorneys wrote in an earlier court filing asking justices to block the execution.Both men were served last meals on Monday afternoon, according to Graves, the corrections department spokesman. Jones had fried chicken, potato logs with tartar sauce, beef jerky bites, three candy bars, a chocolate milkshake and fruit punch. Williams had fried chicken, banana pudding, nachos, two sodas and potato logs with ketchup, Graves said.In recent pleadings before state and federal courts, the inmates said the three drugs Arkansas uses to execute prisoners - midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride - could be ineffective because of their poor health.Williams weighed 400 pounds, was diabetic and had concerns that the execution team might not be able to find a suitable vein to support an intravenous line.The poor health of both men, their lawyers claimed, could make it difficult for them to respond during a consciousness check following a megadose of midazolam. The state shouldn't risk giving them drugs to stop their lungs and hearts if they aren't unconscious, they have told courts.The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000. Oklahoma planned a double execution in 2014 but scrapped plans for the second one after the execution of Clayton Lockett went awry.Arkansas executed four men in an eight-day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930.Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.Authorities said Williams abducted and raped two other women in the days before he was arrested in Errickson's death. Williams admitted responsibility to the state Parole Board last month."I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.In a letter earlier this month, Jones said he was ready to be killed by the state. The letter, which his attorney read aloud at his clemency hearing, went on to say: "I shall not ask to be forgiven, for I haven't the right."Including Jones and Williams, nine people have been executed in the United States this year, four in Texas, three in Arkansas and one each in Missouri and Virginia. Last year, 20 people were executed, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.</s>Varner - Two inmates received lethal injections on the same gurney on Monday night about three hours apart as Arkansas completed the nation's first double execution since 2000, just days after the state ended a nearly 12-year hiatus on administering capital punishment.

While the first inmate, Jack Jones, was executed on schedule, shortly after 19:00, attorneys for the second, Marcel Williams, convinced a federal judge minutes later to briefly delay his punishment over concerns about how the earlier one was carried out. They claimed Jones gasped for air, an account the state's attorney general denied, but the judge lifted her stay about an hour later and Williams was pronounced dead at 22:33.

Initially, Governor Asa Hutchinson scheduled four double executions over an 11-day period in April. The eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a compressed period since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state said the executions needed to be carried out before its supply of one lethal injection drug expires on April 30.

The first three executions were canceled because of court decisions, then inmate Ledell Lee was executed last week.

Jones was sent to death row for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He strangled her with the cord to a coffee pot.

He was also convicted of attempting to kill Phillips' 11-year-old daughter and was convicted in another rape and killing in Florida.

Jones said earlier this month that he was ready for execution. He used a wheelchair and he'd had a leg amputated in prison because of diabetes.

Williams' "morbid obesity makes it likely that either the IV line cannot be placed or that it will be placed in error, thus causing substantial damage [like a collapsed lung]," his attorneys wrote in an earlier court filing asking justices to block the execution.

Both men were served last meals on Monday afternoon, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesperson Solomon Graves said. Jones had fried chicken, potato logs with tartar sauce, beef jerky bites, three candy bars, a chocolate milkshake and fruit punch. Williams had fried chicken, banana pudding, nachos, two sodas and potato logs with ketchup, Graves said.

In recent pleadings before state and federal courts, the inmates said the three drugs Arkansas uses to execute prisoners - midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride - could be ineffective because of their poor health.

Jones, 52, lost a leg to diabetes and was on insulin. Williams, 46, weighs 181kg, is diabetic and has concerns that the execution team might not be able to find a suitable vein to support an intravenous line.

The poor health of both men, their lawyers claimed, could make it difficult for them to respond during a consciousness check following a megadose of midazolam. The state shouldn't risk giving them drugs to stop their lungs and hearts if they aren't unconscious, they have told courts.

The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000. Oklahoma planned a double execution in 2014, but scrapped plans for the second one after the execution of Clayton Lockett went awry.

Arkansas executed four men in an eight-day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930.

Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.

Authorities said Williams abducted and raped two other women in the days before he was arrested in Errickson's death. Williams admitted responsibility to the state Parole Board last month.

"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.

In a letter earlier this month, Jones said he was ready to be killed by the state. The letter, which his attorney read aloud at his clemency hearing, went on to say: "I shall not ask to be forgiven, for I haven't the right."

Including Jones and Williams, nine people have been executed in the United States this year, four in Texas, three in Arkansas and one each in Missouri and Virginia.

Last year, 20 people were executed, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.</s>Two Arkansas inmates scheduled to be put to death Monday in what could be the nation's first double execution in more than 16 years have asked an appeals court to halt their lethal injections because of poor health.

Two Arkansas inmates scheduled to be put to death Monday in what could be the nation's first double execution in more than 16 years have asked an appeals court to halt their lethal injections because of poor health.

Last-ditch court appeals could block the executions of two Arkansas inmates who are scheduled to be put to death Monday.

Last-ditch court appeals could block the executions of two Arkansas inmates who are scheduled to be put to death Monday.

A federal judge temporarily halted a second execution Monday night in Arkansas after attorneys said in a court filing that the first execution for Jack Jones "appeared to be tortuous and inhumane.".

A federal judge temporarily halted a second execution Monday night in Arkansas after attorneys said in a court filing that the first execution for Jack Jones "appeared to be tortuous and inhumane.".

A federal appeals court has rejected an Arkansas inmate's request for a stay of execution for the rape and killing of a woman more than two decades ago.

A federal appeals court has rejected an Arkansas inmate's request for a stay of execution for the rape and killing of a woman more than two decades ago.

(Arkansas Department of Correction via AP, File). FILE - This combination of undated file photos provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction shows death-row inmates Jack Jones, left, and Marcel Williams.

VARNER, Ark. (AP) - Two inmates received lethal injections on the same gurney Monday night about three hours apart as Arkansas completed the nation's first double execution since 2000, just days after the state ended a nearly 12-year hiatus on administering capital punishment.

While the first inmate, Jack Jones, 52, was executed on schedule, shortly after 7 p.m., attorneys for the second, Marcel Williams, 46, convinced a federal judge minutes later to briefly delay his punishment over concerns about how the earlier one was carried out. They claimed Jones gasped for air, an account the state's attorney general denied, but the judge lifted her stay about an hour later and Williams was pronounced dead at 10:33 p.m.

Initially, Gov. Asa Hutchinson scheduled four double executions over an 11-day period in April. The eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a compressed period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state said the executions needed to be carried out before its supply of one lethal injection drug expires on April 30.

The first three executions were canceled because of court decisions, then inmate Ledell Lee was executed last week.

Jones was sent to death row for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He strangled her with the cord to a coffee pot.

He was also convicted of attempting to kill Phillips' 11-year-old daughter and was convicted in another rape and killing in Florida.

Jones said earlier this month that he was ready for execution. He used a wheelchair and he'd had a leg amputated in prison because of diabetes.

Williams' "morbid obesity makes it likely that either the IV line cannot be placed or that it will be placed in error, thus causing substantial damage (like a collapsed lung)," his attorneys wrote in an earlier court filing asking justices to block the execution.

Both men were served last meals on Monday afternoon, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves said. Jones had fried chicken, potato logs with tartar sauce, beef jerky bites, three candy bars, a chocolate milkshake and fruit punch. Williams had fried chicken, banana pudding, nachos, two sodas and potato logs with ketchup, Graves said.

In recent pleadings before state and federal courts, the inmates said the three drugs Arkansas uses to execute prisoners - midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride - could be ineffective because of their poor health.

Williams weighed 400 pounds, was diabetic and had concerns that the execution team might not be able to find a suitable vein to support an intravenous line.

The poor health of both men, their lawyers claimed, could make it difficult for them to respond during a consciousness check following a megadose of midazolam. The state shouldn't risk giving them drugs to stop their lungs and hearts if they aren't unconscious, they have told courts.

The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000. Oklahoma planned a double execution in 2014 but scrapped plans for the second one after the execution of Clayton Lockett went awry.

Arkansas executed four men in an eight-day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930.

Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.

Authorities said Williams abducted and raped two other women in the days before he was arrested in Errickson's death. Williams admitted responsibility to the state Parole Board last month.

"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.

In a letter earlier this month, Jones said he was ready to be killed by the state. The letter, which his attorney read aloud at his clemency hearing, went on to say: "I shall not ask to be forgiven, for I haven't the right."

Including Jones and Williams, nine people have been executed in the United States this year, four in Texas, three in Arkansas and one each in Missouri and Virginia. Last year, 20 people were executed, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Associated Press writers Jill Bleed contributed to this report from Little Rock.

Follow Andrew DeMillo at www.twitter.com/ademillo and Kelly P. Kissel at www.twitter.com/kisselap

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Two Arkansas killers set to die Monday in the nation's first double execution in more than 16 years acknowledge they're guilty but fear the lethal injections could subject them to excruciating pain due to their various health problems.

Jack Jones and Marcel Williams say their medical conditions - which include obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure - could complicate their executions. Jones' execution is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and Williams' is slated to begin at 8:15 p.m. in the same execution chamber. They have asked courts to grant them stays. So far none has.

They would be the second and third inmates executed by Arkansas this month. A fourth execution is set for Thursday. Arkansas initially wanted to execute eight men before a drug used to sedate the inmates expires Sunday, but four other inmates have won stays.

Before Ledell Lee's execution last Thursday, Arkansas hadn't put an inmate to death since 2005. In several of the 31 states where executions are legal, drug shortages have often forced delays as manufacturers prohibit their use in executions. Arkansas believes that secrecy it grants to suppliers can solve that problem, though it still has difficulty obtaining the drugs. Courts have also forced rewrites of Arkansas' lethal injection protocols, causing further delays. Jones and Williams committed their crimes more than two decades ago.

In recent pleadings before state and federal courts, the inmates say the three drugs Arkansas uses to execute prisoners - midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride - could be ineffective because of their poor health.

Jones, 52, has lost a leg to diabetes and is on insulin. Williams, 46, weighs 400 pounds, is diabetic and has concerns that the execution team might not be able to find a suitable vein to support an intravenous line.

The poor health of both men, their lawyers claim, could make it difficult for them to respond during a consciousness check following a megadose of midazolam. The state shouldn't risk giving them drugs to stop their lungs and hearts if they aren't unconscious, they have told courts.

In a response filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the state said the inmates had filed an "avalanche" of lawsuits to obtain stays. The men's attorneys countered that the state forced their hands.

"If there was an 'avalanche' of litigation, as the state complains, that's because the state created an avalanche of execution dates," Julie Vandiver wrote.

The 8th Circuit rejected Jones' and Williams' requests for stay Monday, and the Arkansas Supreme Court said Monday it wouldn't reopen the men's cases and refused to issue stays.

The initial eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a short period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state said the executions needed to be carried out before its supply of the sedative midazolam expires on April 30.

The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000. Arkansas executed four men in an eight day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930.

Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.

Authorities said Williams abducted and raped two other women in the days before he was arrested in Errickson's death. Williams admitted responsibility to the state Parole Board last month.

"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.

Jones was given the death penalty for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He strangled her with the cord to a coffee pot.

In a letter earlier this month, Jones said he was ready to be killed by the state.

"I forgive my executioners; somebody has to do it," wrote Jones, who had a leg amputated in prison because of diabetes and uses a wheelchair.

The letter, which his attorney read aloud at his clemency hearing, went on to say: "I shall not ask to be forgiven, for I haven't the right."

Seven people have been executed in the United States this year, four in Texas and one each in Arkansas, Missouri and Virginia. Last year, 20 people were executed, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Associated Press writers Jill Bleed and Kelly P. Kissel contributed to this report.</s>A federal judge temporarily halted a second execution Monday night in Arkansas after attorneys said in a court filing that the first execution for Jack Jones "appeared to be tortuous and inhumane.".

A federal judge temporarily halted a second execution Monday night in Arkansas after attorneys said in a court filing that the first execution for Jack Jones "appeared to be tortuous and inhumane.".

(Arkansas Department of Correction via AP, File). This undated file photo provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction shows death-row inmate Jack Jones, who is one of two Arkansas killers set to die Monday, April 24, 2017.

(Arkansas Department of Correction via AP, File). FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction shows death-row inmate Marcel Williams who is one of two Arkansas killers set to die Monday, April 24, 2017.

(Arkansas Department of Correction via AP, File). This combination of undated file photos provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction shows death-row inmates Jack Jones, left, and Marcel Williams.

VARNER, Ark. (AP) - After going nearly 12 years without executing an inmate, Arkansas now has executed three in a few days - including two in one night.

Jack Jones and Marcel Williams received lethal injections on the same gurney Monday night, just about three hours apart. It was the first double execution in the United States since 2000.

While Jones, 52, was executed on schedule, shortly after 7 p.m., attorneys for Williams, 46, convinced a federal judge minutes later to briefly delay his execution over concerns about how the earlier one was carried out. They claimed Jones "was moving his lips and gulping for air," an account the state's attorney general denied, but the judge lifted her stay about an hour later and Williams was pronounced dead at 10:33 p.m.

In the emergency filing, Williams' attorneys wrote that officials spent 45 minutes trying to place an IV line in Jones' neck before placing it elsewhere. It argued that Williams, who weighs 400 pounds, could have faced a "torturous" death because of his weight.

Intravenous lines are placed before witnesses are allowed access to the death chamber.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the execution said Jones moved his lips briefly after the midazolam was administered, and officials put a tongue depressor in his mouth intermittently for the first few minutes. His chest stopped moving two minutes after they checked for consciousness, and he was pronounced dead at 7:20 p.m.

Asked why Jones' lips moved, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves said he understood that the inmate was apologizing to the department director, Wendy Kelley, and thanking her for the way she treated him.

Williams was already in the death chamber when the temporary stay was issued. He was escorted out of the chamber and used the restroom, then was brought back in after the stay was lifted.

Initially, Gov. Asa Hutchinson scheduled four double executions over an 11-day period in April. The eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a compressed period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state said the executions needed to be carried out before its supply of one lethal injection drug expires on April 30.

Besides the two executions Monday, Arkansas put to death one other inmate last week and has a final one scheduled for Thursday. Four others have been blocked.

Before last week, Arkansas hadn't had an execution since 2005 or a double execution since 1999.

Jones, who'd argued that his health conditions could lead to a painful death, gave a lengthy last statement. His final words were: "I'm sorry."

"I hope over time you can learn who I really am and I am not a monster," he said in the roughly 2-minute statement.

Jones was sent to death row for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He strangled her with the cord to a coffee pot.

He was also convicted of attempting to kill Phillips' 11-year-old daughter and was convicted in another rape and killing in Florida.

Jones said earlier this month that he was ready for execution. He used a wheelchair and he'd had a leg amputated in prison because of diabetes.

Williams' "morbid obesity makes it likely that either the IV line cannot be placed or that it will be placed in error, thus causing substantial damage (like a collapsed lung)," his attorneys wrote in an earlier court filing asking justices to block the execution.

Both men were served last meals on Monday afternoon, according to Graves, the corrections department spokesman. Jones had fried chicken, potato logs with tartar sauce, beef jerky bites, three candy bars, a chocolate milkshake and fruit punch. Williams had fried chicken, banana pudding, nachos, two sodas and potato logs with ketchup, Graves said.

In recent pleadings before state and federal courts, the inmates said the three drugs Arkansas uses to execute prisoners - midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride - could be ineffective because of their poor health.

Williams weighed 400 pounds, was diabetic and had concerns that the execution team might not be able to find a suitable vein to support an intravenous line.

The poor health of both men, their lawyers claimed, could make it difficult for them to respond during a consciousness check following a megadose of midazolam. The state shouldn't risk giving them drugs to stop their lungs and hearts if they aren't unconscious, they have told courts.

The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000. Oklahoma planned a double execution in 2014 but scrapped plans for the second one after the execution of Clayton Lockett went awry.

Arkansas executed four men in an eight-day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930.

Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.

Authorities said Williams abducted and raped two other women in the days before he was arrested in Errickson's death. Williams admitted responsibility to the state Parole Board last month.

"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.

In a letter earlier this month, Jones said he was ready to be killed by the state. The letter, which his attorney read aloud at his clemency hearing, went on to say: "I shall not ask to be forgiven, for I haven't the right."

Including Jones and Williams, nine people have been executed in the United States this year, four in Texas, three in Arkansas and one each in Missouri and Virginia. Last year, 20 people were executed, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Associated Press writers Jill Bleed contributed to this report from Little Rock.

Follow Andrew DeMillo at www.twitter.com/ademillo and Kelly P. Kissel at www.twitter.com/kisselap

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Arkansas put to death two men Monday night in the first back-to-back executions in the United States since 2000.

Jack Harold Jones and Marcel Wayne Williams were among eight inmates set for execution in April before the state’s supply of a lethal injection drug expires at the end of the month.

The compressed timeline set off a series of last-minute challenges from inmates challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol. The Arkansas Supreme Court and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied requests for stays from Jones and Williams earlier Monday, as did the US Supreme Court.

Jones was administered the lethal injection at 7:06 p.m. Monday (8:06 p.m. ET) and pronounced dead 14 minutes later. Williams was administered the injection at 10:16 p.m. (11:16 p.m. ET) and was pronounced dead 17 minutes later.

Before Williams’ execution began, a federal district court judge issued a temporary stay based on claims from Williams’ lawyers that Jones’ death was “torturous and inhumane.” Infirmary staff tried unsuccessfully for 45 minutes to place a line in Jones’ neck, before placing one elsewhere on his body, the emergency motion read.

The state called the claims “utterly baseless” and a federal judge lifted the temporary stay, clearing the way for Williams’ execution to proceed.

These lethal injections were the first back-to-back executions in the United States since Texas carried out the death sentences of Brian Roberson and Oliver Cruz on August 9, 2000, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Arkansas’ last double execution — of Allen Willett and Mark Gardner — was on September 8, 1999, according to the Department of Corrections.

‘We hope this will help bring closure’

Jones was convicted in 1996 of raping and murdering Mary Phillips in the accounting office where she worked as a bookkeeper.

She was strangled to death with a coffee pot cord while her daughter Lacey was tied to a chair. Jones beat and strangled Lacey, leaving her for dead. She regained consciousness as police photographers took pictures of the crime scene.

Searcy Daily Citizen reporter Tracy Whitaker said Jones appeared coherent as he delivered a two-minute statement focusing on Phillips’ daughter, Lacey.

“It’s a good thing that it’s done, for her,” Whitaker told CNN affiliate KARK.

Lacey Phillips Seal thanked the governor and the attorney general’s office in brief comments at a news conference.

“I’m glad that chapter is closed,” she said Monday night.

The appeals court declined Jones’ request for a stay based on his claim that the state’s new lethal injection protocol will inflict cruel and unusual punishment.

“This evening the rule of law was upheld when the sentence of the jury for Jack Jones was carried out after 20 years of review. The victim’s family has waited patiently for justice during that time. The jury sentenced Jack Jones to death, and his sentence was upheld by judges and reviewed thoroughly in courts of appeal at each level,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.

“A governor never asks for this responsibility, but I accept it as part of the solemn pledge I made to uphold the law. Jack Jones expressed his willingness to proceed today, and we hope this will help bring closure to the Phillips family.”

Williams was convicted in the 1994 rape and murder of Stacy Errickson. He forced her into her car at gunpoint and made her withdraw money at several ATMs in transactions caught on camera. Her body was found two weeks later.

Williams argued that he would likely experience severe pain during the execution because of his medical conditions, and that the lethal injection amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied him a stay based on that claim and another one arguing ineffective counsel in his trial.

A media witness said Williams’ chest heaved as he laid on the gurney after receiving the sedative. There was no visible signs of struggle, such “grimacing” or “clenching of the fingers,” KARK reporter Jessi Turnure said.

But she acknowledged there may have been pain she couldn’t see.

“As far as we could tell, the inmate wasn’t having any sort of trouble throughout it,” she said.

How we got to this point

After Hutchinson signed their death warrants the eight inmates joined in a last-minute lawsuit challenging the clemency process. They argued the state’s compressed schedule did not allow time for the state board to consider their cases. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied them relief, and only one received a clemency recommendation.

The inmates also sued over the sedative used in the two-drug protocol. The lawsuit went to the US Supreme Court, which ultimately denied their motion for a stay.

The first execution was carried out on April 20. Ledell Lee became the first person put to death in Arkansas since 2005. He was convicted in 1995 of murdering a woman in her home two years earlier. He maintained up until his death that he was innocent.

Four are on hold pending appeal.

Lee’s execution followed a flurry of court rulings Thursday, capped by the US Supreme Court’s denial of multiple requests for stays of execution.

Amnesty International said it was a “shameful day,” and that the state was treating people “as though they have a sell-by date.”</s>Arkansas was proceeding with plans to conduct the nation's first double execution in more than 16 years after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the first to move forward, turning back the inmate's claims that his poor health could cause excruciating pain during the lethal injection.

Justices rejected a stay request from Jack Jones, who was set to die at 7 p.m. Monday. A second inmate, Marcel Williams, was set for execution later Monday though he still has pending legal challenges.

In Jones' case, attorneys said he takes a daily dose of two medications to treat chronic pain, and they worry those drugs could desensitize him to the effects of midazolam, a sedative that is the first drug used in Arkansas' lethal injection protocol. Jones also has diabetes and had a leg amputated in prison.

Williams, set for execution at 8:15 p.m., has appeals pending with the U.S. Supreme Court. Williams' "morbid obesity makes it likely that either the IV line cannot be placed or that it will be placed in error, thus causing substantial damage (like a collapsed lung)," his attorneys wrote in a court filing asking justices to block the execution.

Both men were served last meals on Monday afternoon, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves said. Jones had fried chicken, potato logs with tartar sauce, beef jerky bites, three candy bars, a chocolate milkshake and fruit punch. Williams had fried chicken, banana pudding, nachos, two sodas and potato logs with ketchup, Graves said.

They would be the second and third inmates executed by Arkansas this month. A fourth execution is set for Thursday. Arkansas initially wanted to execute eight men before a drug used to sedate the inmates expires Sunday, but four other inmates have won stays.

Before Ledell Lee's execution last Thursday, Arkansas hadn't put an inmate to death since 2005. In several of the 31 states where executions are legal, drug shortages have often forced delays as manufacturers prohibit their use in executions. Arkansas believes that secrecy it grants to suppliers can solve that problem, though it still has difficulty obtaining the drugs. Courts have also forced rewrites of Arkansas' lethal injection protocols, causing further delays. Jones and Williams committed their crimes more than two decades ago.

In recent pleadings before state and federal courts, the inmates say the three drugs Arkansas uses to execute prisoners — midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride — could be ineffective because of their poor health.

Jones, 52, has lost a leg to diabetes and is on insulin. Williams, 46, weighs 400 pounds, is diabetic and has concerns that the execution team might not be able to find a suitable vein to support an intravenous line.

The poor health of both men, their lawyers claim, could make it difficult for them to respond during a consciousness check following a megadose of midazolam. The state shouldn't risk giving them drugs to stop their lungs and hearts if they aren't unconscious, they have told courts.

In a response filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the state said the inmates had filed an "avalanche" of lawsuits to obtain stays. The men's attorneys countered that the state forced their hands.

"If there was an 'avalanche' of litigation, as the state complains, that's because the state created an avalanche of execution dates," Julie Vandiver wrote.

The 8th Circuit rejected Jones' and Williams' requests for stays Monday, and the Arkansas Supreme Court said Monday it wouldn't reopen the men's cases and refused to issue stays. Williams' attorneys once again asked the state Supreme Court to reopen the case in a filing late Monday afternoon, arguing that Williams' prior attorney had plagiarized a court filing years ago.

The initial eight executions would have been the most by a state in such a short period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The state said the executions needed to be carried out before its supply of the sedative midazolam expires on April 30.

The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000. Oklahoma planned a double execution in 2014 but scrapped plans for the second one after the execution of Clayton Lockett went awry.

Arkansas executed four men in an eight-day period in 1960. The only quicker pace included quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930.

Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson, whom he kidnapped from a gas station in central Arkansas.

Authorities said Williams abducted and raped two other women in the days before he was arrested in Errickson's death. Williams admitted responsibility to the state Parole Board last month.

"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.

Jones was given the death penalty for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He strangled her with the cord to a coffee pot.

In a letter earlier this month, Jones said he was ready to be killed by the state.

"I forgive my executioners; somebody has to do it," wrote Jones, who had a leg amputated in prison because of diabetes and uses a wheelchair.

The letter, which his attorney read aloud at his clemency hearing, went on to say: "I shall not ask to be forgiven, for I haven't the right."

Seven people have been executed in the United States this year, four in Texas and one each in Arkansas, Missouri and Virginia. Last year, 20 people were executed, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Associated Press writers Jill Bleed contributed to this report from Little Rock.

Follow Andrew DeMillo at www.twitter.com/ademillo and Kelly P. Kissel at www.twitter.com/kisselap</s>This combination of undated file photos provided by the Arkansas Department of Correction shows death-row inmates Jack Jones, left, and Marcel Williams.

WASHINGTON — If no court steps in, Arkansas is poised to become the first state in more than 15 years to execute two people in one night — just four days after the state held its first execution in more than a decade and just days before one of its execution drugs expires.

At 7 p.m. Central Time, Arkansas is due to execute Jack Jones for the 1995 murder and rape of Mary Phillips during a robbery at her accounting office while her 11-year-old daughter watched.

Shortly thereafter, Marcel Williams is scheduled to be executed for abducting, raping, and killing Stacy Rae Erickson, a 22-year-old mother of two, in 1994.

The Arkansas Supreme Court and US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit had denied all pending requests for stays of execution for both Jones and Williams before 5 p.m. Eastern Time — sending both men's lawyers to the US Supreme Court for a final requests to stop the executions. Should the Supreme Court deny their requests, and no other courts take action to stop the executions, both will be allowed to proceed as planned.



Shortly past 7 p.m. Eastern Time, the US Supreme Court denied both of Jones' requests for a stay of execution. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only noted dissent.

The last state to attempt two executions in one day was Oklahoma. In 2014, the state had scheduled the executions of Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner for the evening of April 29, 2014. However, after Lockett's execution went awry — one of several botched executions using the sedative midazolam in 2014 — Warner's execution was delayed.



On Monday night, as it did last week, Arkansas plans to use the same three drugs in its protocol as Oklahoma had been using that night.

The last state to successfully carry out two executions on one night was Texas — in 2000.

Arkansas, which had scheduled eight executions over a two-week period before its supply of midazolam expires at the end of the month, only conducted one of the four executions it had set for this past week — executing Ledell Lee on April 20.

In addition to Jones and Marcel Williams, the state plans to execute Kenneth Williams on Thursday. A federal judge already halted the originally planned Thursday execution of Jason McGehee, due to issues with the way the condensed execution schedule had altered the state's clemency process.</s>LITTLE ROCK, Ark., April 24 (Reuters) - Two Arkansas killers were scheduled on Monday to become the first pair of convicts put to death on the same day in the United States in 17 years, barring a last-minute reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jack Jones, 52, and Marcel Williams, 46, were scheduled for back-to-back executions by injection on Monday evening.

Jones filed two applications with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday afternoon seeking to have his execution halted, while Williams was likely to file his appeal in the coming hours.

Both men had previously asked for stays on the grounds that their obesity and related health conditions could expose them to unconstitutional pain and suffering if their death sentences were carried out.

Both the Arkansas Supreme Court and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis rejected the men's requests.

In addition to appealing the obesity issue to the Supreme Court, Jones separately argued that the Arkansas Supreme Court applied the wrong standard of review in 1997 when considering whether a jury properly determined his death sentence.

The inmates' likelihood of success may have diminished with the recent appointment of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Last week, the high court cleared the way for Arkansas to hold its first execution in 12 years, and the state executed murderer Ledell Lee.

The last time a state executed two inmates on the same day was 2000 in Texas.

Jones, sentenced in 1996 for raping and strangling Mary Phillips and attempting to murder her 11-year-old daughter, was scheduled to be put to death on Monday at 7 p.m. CDT (0000 GMT)at the Cummins Unit prison, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of the state capital, Little Rock. Jones also was convicted of rape and murder in Florida.

Williams was tentatively scheduled to be executed at 8:15 p.m. CDT (0115 GMT on Tuesday) for the 1997 kidnapping, rape and murder of Stacy Errickson. He also abducted and raped two other women.

The condemned pair were among eight inmates that Arkansas had initially planned to execute in 11 days this month, a compressed schedule prompted by the impending expiration date of supplies of midazolam, the sedative used by the state for lethal injections.

The drug was used in flawed executions in Oklahoma and Arizona, where witnesses said the inmates writhed in apparent pain on the gurney. No problems were reported in Lee's execution on Thursday.

Four of the planned executions have been put on hold by court order, including two pending the outcome of a case heard on Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court's four liberal justices appeared sympathetic to the argument by Alabama death row inmate James McWilliams that he is entitled to a mental health assessment from an independent medical expert before he can be executed.

Arkansas has scheduled a final execution for April on Thursday.

The unprecedented schedule generated a wave of criticism and legal challenges, including a lawsuit from the company that distributes one of the drugs. McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc claimed the state obtained its supplies under false pretenses, but the state's Supreme Court threw out that lawsuit last week. (Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Trott)
Arkansas becomes the first U.S. state since Texas in 2000 to hold two executions on the same day as executes convicted murderers Jack Jones, Jr. and Marcel Williams.