A Service of UA Little Rock
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Arkansas Governor Sets Execution Dates After 10-Year Pause

lethal injection

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has set the execution dates for eight death row inmates after more than a decade-long dearth of lethal injections.

Hutchinson was urged to set the dates by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who informed the governor two weeks ago that the state of Arkansas had procured the necessary chemicals to carry out executions.

The following schedule was released by Hutchinson’s office Wednesday:

The judgments against Bruce Earl Ward, convicted of the August 11, 1989, murder of Rebecca Doss of Little Rock, and Don William Davis, convicted of the October 12, 1990, murder of Jane Daniel of Rogers, will be carried out on October 21, 2015.

Terrick Terrell Nooner, convicted of the March 16, 1993, murder of Scot Stobaugh of Little Rock, and Stacey Eugene Johnson, convicted in Sevier County of the April 1, 1993, murder of Carol Heath of DeQueen, are set for November 3, 2015.

Marcel Wayne Williams, convicted of the November 20, 1994, murder of Stacy Errickson of Jacksonville, and Jack Harold Jones, Jr., convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for the June 6, 1995, murder of Mary Phillips of Searcy, are set for December 14, 2015.

Jason McGehee, who was convicted of the August 19, 1996, murder of John Melbourne, Jr., of Harrison, and Kenneth Williams, who was convicted of the October 3, 1999, murder of Cecil Boren of Grady, are set for January 14, 2016.

Arkansas has not carried out the death penalty since 2005 due to legal challenges and a lack of available drugs to produce lethal injections. Last month, the state said it received the drugs needed to carry out lethal injections.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.