Arkansas To Kill 8 Inmates Next Month, Gov. Pardons Pig

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Mon Mar 06, 2017 at 12:32:23 PM EST
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Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has set 8 executions for a ten day period in April, now that the state's supreme court rejected lawsuits over the controversial drugs used.

The upcoming execution schedule is unprecedented, notes Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "No state has ever conducted eight executions over a 10 day period," he told CNN.

The Associated Press speculates that they were scheduled for such a short window because the state's supply of one of the lethal injection drugs, Midazolam, expires at the end of April. Arkansas has already run out of potassium chloride, which causes cardiac arrest upon injection, and has yet to acquire a new supply. Hutchinson has expressed confidence that a new supplier for the substance will be found in time.

While Hutchinson has no moral qualms about killing his fellow human beings, he did have qualms about a pig named Roxy P. Hamilton, and in January, he granted the pig a pardon.

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AR not AK (none / 0) (#1)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Mar 06, 2017 at 01:26:03 PM EST

: Thanks to the fortuitous typo ... (none / 0) (#2)
by Erehwon on Mon Mar 06, 2017 at 01:49:27 PM EST

I found out more about AK's death penalty status:

Alaska as a state has never had a death penalty. The Territorial Legislature abolished capital punishment two years before Alaska gained statehood. Prior to 1899, miner's courts handled legal matters in Alaska. Seven people are estimated to have been executed under that system.

Alaska's death penalty or lack thereof ...

If an animal is euthanized, (none / 0) (#3)
by fishcamp on Mon Mar 06, 2017 at 01:53:16 PM EST

with that drug or any of the others veteranerians use, they are inedible. This I learned from my ex gf, who is now a retired veteranerian. I helped her put down many animals, and didn't like it ever, but she needed help. We put down many dogs and cats, and I then drove them down to Dr. Doom, who had an animal crematorium. With horses you need a backhoe.

Supreme Court: Racial Bias, No Jury Secrecy (none / 0) (#4)
by vicndabx on Mon Mar 06, 2017 at 05:52:45 PM EST

The case arose from statements made during jury deliberations in a 2010 sexual assault trial. "I think he did it because he's Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want," a juror said of the defendant, according to sworn statements from other jurors submitted by defense lawyers after the trial was over.
The juror, identified in court papers as H.C., was a former law enforcement officer. After the trial was over, two other jurors submitted sworn statements describing what he had said during deliberations.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that courts must make an exception to the usual rule that jury deliberations are secret when evidence emerges that those discussions were marred by racial or ethnic bias.

Sorry to post this in a non open thread, but this seems a significant step needed for criminal justice reform.

: please put it in an open thread (none / 0) (#6)
by Jeralyn on Mon Mar 06, 2017 at 07:41:40 PM EST

this is about the death penalty in Arkansas

i read the scotus (none / 0) (#7)
by linea on Mon Mar 06, 2017 at 07:57:10 PM EST

ruling on this death-cocktail mix. european manufacturers wont export the ingredients to america for this use. a small american manufacturer produced one of the main ingredients but when their name became public they stopped suppying it. in the ruling, one of the justices seemed irritated that groups opposed to the death penalty were causing the shortage of the needed drugs and then filing lawsuits when a replacement drug is used. [this is only my interpretation and short version of that ruling.]

i'm not exactly certain how these (none / 0) (#8)
by cpinva on Mon Mar 06, 2017 at 11:27:25 PM EST

executions are going to "bring closure to the victim's families."? unless, by some miracle, these deaths bring the victims back to life. I'm pretty sure that's not going to be the case. what you'll end up with is two people dead for each crime, the original victim, and now the perpetrator of the crime. I'm also guessing the victim's families won't really "feel" anything, but hollow. they'll go back home and slowly realize nothing's changed in their lives. their loved one is still dead, and they're still depressed.

How can the death penalty (none / 0) (#9)
by NYShooter on Tue Mar 07, 2017 at 12:33:30 PM EST

even be permitted with so many conviction reversals taking place at an ever increasing rate?

More than 2,000 wrongfully convicted people exonerated in 23 years, researchers say

"More than 2,000 people have been exonerated of serious crimes since 1989 in the United States, according to a report by college researchers who have established the first national registry of exonerations." (This report was issued in 2012, certainly the numbers are much higher now.)

Well, for example, Kenneth Williams, one of the 8, (none / 0) (#10)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Mar 07, 2017 at 01:59:31 PM EST

kidnapped and killed a 19 y/o U of AR coed in 1998, kidnapped and beat her boyfriend, and was sentenced to LWP.

About a year later he escaped, murdered a man who was tending his garden, stole the man's truck, and was finally captured 300 miles away after a high-speed chase that ended in a traffic accident which killed driver of the other vehicle.

Recently, he admitted to these murders and additionally confessed to killing another man the same day in 1998 that he committed his first murder.


Really, S.U.O ? (none / 0) (#11)
by NYShooter on Tue Mar 07, 2017 at 04:58:28 PM EST

Executing hundreds, potentially thousands of innocent people because a prison somewhere, sometime, fails to provide adequate security for a dangerous inmate is, in your opinion, a justifiable trade-off?

Such a pity.


Huh. Is that what I said? Or some dialogue (none / 0) (#12)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Mar 07, 2017 at 05:04:17 PM EST

that you manufactured inside your head?

Anyway, no time to play these types of silly games with you now.

Have fun!


: i wonder (none / 0) (#14)
by linea on Tue Mar 07, 2017 at 10:11:18 PM EST

if the death penalty is one of those issues, like having a pistol for self-defence, that many democrats support. i checked wiki and was suprised how few states have banned executions. the entire "left coast" has death penalty laws (according to the wiki entry). for the record, i oppose executions.

AR (none / 0) (#13)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 07, 2017 at 05:06:46 PM EST

is finally best at something.

i guess.