Monday, April 24, 2017

Mass Executions

Arkansas plans to execute two men this Monday evening, due to the looming expiration dates of its controversial lethal injection drugs. 

The two inmates are Jack Jones Jr. and Marcel Williams, they had previously asked for stays on their executions. The State Supreme Court denied them.

The attorneys representing  the two inmates asked for stays on the grounds of the inmates health. Williams being obese, his attorneys argued that his execution would be a slow and painful death. Jones, according to his lawyers, has diabetes and apnea and the medication he takes could possibly inhibit the effectiveness of the lethal injection drugs. 

These two inmates are among eight other inmates that have been chosen by the state to be executed before the states supply of midazolam-a sedative used in the three drug lethal injection protocol- expires. Use of the sedative is controversial due to its use in several botched executions in Arizona, Alabama and Oklahoma. 

Despite the criticism from Amnesty International, the state has moved on with its execution plan. 

The idea of any state treating human life in such a callous way is unsettling to say the least. This is the first double execution in the United States in the past 16 years. 

https://news.vice.com/story/arkansas-is-hours-away-from-2-more-executions-in-its-capital-punishment-spree

No comments:

Post a Comment