Background on Arkansas April 2017 Executions

Eight exe­cu­tions were sched­uled in Arkansas from April 17 – 27, 2017. The state sched­uled two exe­cu­tions per day on four days dur­ing that peri­od. The men sched­uled for exe­cu­tion were (top row, from left to right) Bruce Ward, Marcel Williams, Jason McGehee, and Kenneth Williams; (bot­tom row, from left to right) Stacey Johnson, Ledell Lee, Don Davis, and Jack Jones. The state car­ried out four exe­cu­tions dur­ing this period. 

On April 28, in light of report­ed prob­lems that occurred dur­ing the exe­cu­tion, attor­neys for Kenneth Williams are request­ing a full inves­ti­ga­tion into the execution. 

On Thursday, April 27, Arkansas car­ried out the exe­cu­tion of Kenneth Williams, and he was pro­nounced dead at 11:05pm CST. 

Arkansas car­ried out two exe­cu­tions on Monday, April 24. The state admin­is­tered the lethal-injec­tion drugs for Jack Jones at 7:06pm CST and he was pro­nounced dead at 7:20pm CST. Based on prob­lems relat­ed to Jones’ exe­cu­tion, attor­neys for Marcel Williams filed an emer­gency motion for stay of exe­cu­tion, which was grant­ed by the fed­er­al dis­trict judge. Williams’ exe­cu­tion, which was sched­uled to begin at 8:15pm CST, was stayed until 9:22pm CST, when the dis­trict court vacat­ed the stay. The admin­is­tra­tion of drugs began at 10:16pm, and Williams was pro­nounced dead at 10:33pm.

On Thursday, April 20, Arkansas car­ried out the exe­cu­tion of Ledell Lee, and he was pro­nounced dead at 11:56pm CST. 

On Wednesday, April 19, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued an order grant­i­ng a stay for Stacey Johnson and remand­ing his case for a hear­ing on DNA. 

On Monday, April 17, 2017, the Arkansas Supreme Court grant­ed stays of exe­cu­tion to Don Davis and Bruce Ward, after the pris­on­ers filed a Motion to Recall the Mandate and for Stay of Execution based on pend­ing Supreme Court deci­sion in McWilliams v. Dunn. On Monday evening, April 17, around 7pm CST, the State asked the US Supreme Court to vacate the stay for Don Davis. Around 9pm CST, Davis filed a response oppos­ing the State’s request. The Supreme Court denied Arkansas’ request to vacate the stay of exe­cu­tion for Don Davis. No exe­cu­tions were car­ried out on April 17. 

On Friday, April 14, 2017, the Arkansas Supreme Court grant­ed Bruce Ward’s request for stay of exe­cu­tion to per­mit Ward’s attor­neys to lit­i­gate a claim that he is men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. On Saturday, April 15, the state asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to recon­sid­er its stay order. On Monday, April 17, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied the State’s request. 

On April 6, the fed­er­al dis­trict court grant­ed pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion stay­ing exe­cu­tion of Jason McGehee until Arkansas Parole Board com­plies with 30-day pub­lic notice peri­od on the Board’s 6 – 1 rec­om­men­da­tion to grant clemen­cy and Governor Hutchinson decides whether to grant or deny clemen­cy. On April 25, the State announced that it will not appeal the deci­sion so the exe­cu­tion of Jason McGehee will not take place on April 27. 

Johnson v. Kelley, No. 16 – 6496 (U.S. Supreme Court). Arising out of a state law­suit that was filed in April 2015 chal­leng­ing the use of mida­zo­lam in exe­cu­tions, death-row pris­on­ers filed a peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari with the Supreme Court on October 19, 2016, after the Arkansas Supreme Court dis­missed the under­ly­ing law­suit. On February 21, 2017, the Supreme Court denied review. On February 27, Arkansas gov­er­nor sched­uled 8 exe­cu­tions over an 11-day peri­od begin­ning April 17. On March 20, 2017, pris­on­ers filed a Petition for Rehearing in the Supreme Court ask­ing it to recon­sid­er its denial of cer­tio­rari in light of eight exe­cu­tions sched­uled. Read the Petition for rehear­ing here; the orig­i­nal peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari here, which was denied on February 22, 2017; and the press release here. The Supreme Court dock­et for the case is here. On April 17, the pris­on­ers filed an Application for Stay of Execution, ask­ing the Supreme Court to stay their exe­cu­tions until it rules on their motion for recon­sid­er­a­tion. On April 20, the Supreme Court denied the appli­ca­tion for stay of exe­cu­tion, but did not issue an order in the under­ly­ing case. Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan would have grant­ed the stay. The Supreme Court has con­fer­enced the case to con­sid­er the motion for recon­sid­er­a­tion for April 21. On April 24, the Supreme Court denied the motion for recon­sid­er­a­tion filed by peti­tion­ers. Justice Sotomayor would have grant­ed the motion.

Johnson v. Kelley, No. 60CV-15 – 2921 (State Court, Circuit Court of Pulaski County). On February 24, 2017, after cer­tio­rari was denied, pris­on­ers filed a Second Amended Complaint in Pulaski County, Arkansas chal­leng­ing lethal-injec­tion pro­to­col. Read the Second Amended Complaint here. On March 28, 2017, the Circuit Court issued an order dis­miss­ing the case. On April 3, the pris­on­ers filed a motion for recon­sid­er­a­tion and on April 21, asked the court to rule on that motion before it becomes moot.

McGehee v. Hutchinson, No. 4:17-cv-179 (Federal Court; E. Dist. of Ark.) On March 27, 2017, Prisoners filed a law­suit in fed­er­al dis­trict court chal­leng­ing the sched­ule of 8 exe­cu­tions over 11-day peri­od with the use of the drug mida­zo­lam as vio­lat­ing their right to coun­sel, their right of access to the courts, and the Eighth Amendment. Read the Complaint here; Motion for Preliminary Injunction here; Memorandum in Support of Preliminary Injunction here. A hear­ing was held April 10 – 13. On April 15, the fed­er­al dis­trict court issued a pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion, which pre­vent­ed Arkansas from mov­ing for­ward with the exe­cu­tions. On April 17, the par­ties filed with the dis­trict court a Joint Proposed Execution Viewing Policy, which will be used should exe­cu­tions be carried out. 

On April 16, Arkansas pros­e­cu­tors appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 17 – 1804, ask­ing that court to vacate the injunc­tion. The pris­on­ers filed an oppo­si­tion to the state’s motion, and the state filed a reply. On April 17, the Eighth Circuit vacat­ed the pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion; Judge Kelly dissented. 

On April 19, the pris­on­ers asked the U.S. Supreme Court, Nos. 16 – 8770; 16A-1003, to review the Eighth Circuit’s deci­sion specif­i­cal­ly as it relates to the exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. Read the peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari here; read the stay appli­ca­tion here. On April 20, the Supreme Court denied the stay, and denied cer­tio­rari. Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor would have grant­ed cer­tio­rari; Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan would have grant­ed the stay. Justice Breyer wrote a dis­sent, here. Justice Sotomayor wrote a dis­sent, here.

On April 19, the pris­on­ers also asked the U.S. Supreme Court, Nos. 16 – 8787; 16A1006, to review the Eighth Circuit’s deci­sion specif­i­cal­ly as it relates to the exe­cu­tion sched­ule, ask­ing the Court to con­sid­er whether sched­ul­ing four dou­ble exe­cu­tions to occur over a peri­od of eleven days vio­lates evolv­ing stan­dards of decen­cy under the Eighth Amendment. Read the peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari here; read the stay appli­ca­tion here. On April 20, the Supreme Court denied the stay, and denied cer­tio­rari. Justice Breyer would have granted certiorari. 

On April 22, the pris­on­ers asked the fed­er­al dis­trict court judge to mod­i­fy the Joint Proposed Execution Viewing Policy, which was filed April 17. In their motion, pris­on­ers want­ed the court to clar­i­fy that the exe­cu­tion com­mences from the time that a pris­on­er is brought into the exe­cu­tion cham­ber and there­fore their attor­neys should wit­ness that part of the exe­cu­tion, through the inser­tion of IV lines, until death. (Read motion here.) On April 23, the dis­trict court denied the motion stat­ing that the plaintiffs/​prisoners could have raised this issue dur­ing nego­ti­a­tions before fil­ing the joint agreement. 

Lee v. Hutchinson, Case No. 4:17-cv-194 (Federal Court; E. Dist. of Ark.) On March 28, 2017, pris­on­ers filed law­suit in fed­er­al dis­trict court chal­leng­ing the clemen­cy process. Read the Complaint here; Motion for Preliminary Injunction here; Memorandum in Support of Preliminary Injunction here; press release here.

The court con­duct­ed a hear­ing on the pris­on­ers’ motion on April 4. On April 6, the dis­trict court issued an order grant­i­ng in part and deny­ing in part the pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion. The court issued an injunc­tion stay­ing the exe­cu­tion of Jason McGehee, for whom the parole board rec­om­mend­ed clemen­cy. Under the statute, the parole board must give 30 days for pub­lic com­ment and notice to indi­vid­u­als before send­ing its rec­om­men­da­tion to gov­er­nor; McGehee’s sched­uled exe­cu­tion will occur before the expi­ra­tion of that 30-day time frame. The court dimissed the law­suit for Bruce Ward (who lacked stand­ing because he did not apply for clemen­cy), held the mat­ter in abeyance for Jack Jones (who had a clemen­cy hear­ing on Friday, April 7), and denied pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tions for the oth­er pris­on­ers. On April 19, Ledell Lee filed with the dis­trict court an Amended Motion for Preliminary Injunction (styled as a motion to recon­sid­er the denial of relief) based on new mitigating evidence. 

On April 18, an appeal was filed with the Eighth Circuit, No. 17 – 1822, by Stacey Johnson, Ledell Lee, Kenneth Williams, and Marcel Williams. On April 20, the Eighth Circuit denied relief, with a dis­sent by Judge Kelly. Read the opin­ion here.

On April 20, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Lee’s appli­ca­tion for a stay and denied cer­tio­rari.

McKesson Medical-Surgical, Inc. v. State, 60CV-17 – 1921 (State Court, Circuit Court of Pulaski County). On April 14: McKesson Medical-Surgical, dis­trib­u­tor of vecuro­ni­um bro­mide — a par­a­lyt­ic and the sec­ond drug in the state’s three-drug for­mu­la — filed a law­suit in state court alleg­ing that Arkansas vio­lat­ed the dis­trib­u­tor’s agree­ments and seek­ing an injunc­tion against the use of the drug in exe­cu­tions. Read the: Complaint, Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, and Brief in Support. At 4:45pm, on April 14, the court issued a tem­po­rary restrain­ing order pre­vent­ing the State from using the drug. Arkansas pros­e­cu­tors appealed, ques­tion­ing the impar­tial­i­ty of the state court judge. On April 15, McKesson request­ed that the state injunc­tion it had won be vacat­ed, say­ing that the fed­er­al pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion (entered in 4:17-cv-179) had made the state injunc­tion unnec­es­sary. On Monday, April 17, the Arkansas Supreme Court vacat­ed the tem­po­rary restrain­ing order and ordered that the judge be removed from the case.

On April 18, McKesson re-filed its law­suit, now Case No. 60cv-17 – 1960, in the Circuit Court of Pulaski County. The com­plaint is here; the motion for tem­po­rary restrain­ing order (TRO) is here; and the brief in sup­port of the TRO is here. The case was assigned to Judge Alice Gray. Also on April 18, the State moved to change venue. The motion is here. On April 19, the State filed a motion to dis­miss and brief in sup­port. Also on April 19, the State filed its response to the motion for TRO. 

The court held a hear­ing on the motions at 12:30pm CST on April 19. 

On April 19, at 6:20 pm CST, the Circuit Court for Pulaski County issued a tem­po­rary restrain­ing order pre­vent­ing Arkansas from using the drug vecuro­ni­um bro­mide obtained from McKesson in upcom­ing exe­cu­tions. The writ­ten order is acces­si­ble here.

On April 20, the State filed an Emergency Motion for Immediate Stay with the Arkansas Supreme Court, Case No. CV-17 – 317, ask­ing that court to stay the injunc­tion order issued by the cir­cuit court. The State’s motion is here.

On April 20, the Arkansas Supreme Court grant­ed the State’s motion to stay the low­er court’s TRO, there­by lift­ing the stay that was in place pre­vent­ing the state from using vecuro­ni­um bro­mide in exe­cu­tions; brief­ing was ordered to commence. 

Ward v. State, No. CV-17 – 291 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court): On April 13, 2017, Bruce Ward filed an Emergency Petition for Stay of Execution to per­mit his attor­neys to lit­i­gate a claim that he is men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. On April 14, the Arkansas Supreme Court grant­ed a stay. On Saturday, April 15, the state asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to recon­sid­er its stay order. On Monday, April 17, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied the State’s request. 

Ward v. State, No. CR-98 – 657 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court). On April 12, Bruce Ward filed a Motion to Recall the Mandate and for Stay of Execution based on pend­ing U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion in McWilliams v. Dunn. On Monday, April 17, 2017, the Arkansas Supreme Court grant­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion to Bruce Ward.

Davis v. State, No. CR-92 – 1385 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court). On April 12, Don Davis filed a Motion to Recall the Mandate and for Stay of Execution based on pend­ing U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion in McWilliams v. Dunn. On Monday, April 17, 2017, the Arkansas Supreme Court grant­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion to Don Davis. On Monday evening, April 17, around 7pm CST, the State asked the US Supreme Court to vacate the stay for Don Davis. Around 9pm CST, Davis filed a response oppos­ing the State’s request. The Supreme Court denied Arkansas’ request to vacate the stay of exe­cu­tion for Don Davis.

Johnson v. State, No. CR-93 – 54 (State Court; Circuit Court of Sevier County). On April 13, Stacey Johnson filed a motion for DNA test­ing, argu­ing that DNA test­ing be con­duct­ed to prove his inno­cence. Read the motion here; read the press release by the Innocence Project. On April 17, the court issued an order deny­ing Johnson’s request. 

On April 18, Johnson filed a motion for stay of exe­cu­tion with the Arkansas Supreme Court (No. CR-17 – 312), ask­ing for an order remand­ing his case for a hear­ing on his motion for DNA test­ing. Read the stay motion here. On April 19, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued an order grant­i­ng the stay and remand­ing his case for a hear­ing on DNA. 

Kenneth Williams v. State, No. 60CV-17 – 2102 (State Court; Pulaski County Circuit Court): On April 27, 2017, Kenneth Williams filed a com­plaint (with attached exhibits) alleg­ing that his own med­ical issues and the State’s fail­ure to fol­low its own exe­cu­tion pro­to­col will result in due process vio­la­tion and cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment under the Arkansas Constitution.

Kenneth Williams v. State, No.CV-17 – 346 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court): On April 27, Kenneth Williams filed an Emergency Motion for Stay of Execution to Preserve this Court’s Jurisdiction, ask­ing that his exe­cu­tion be stayed so that he could lit­i­gate the case in Pulaski County. On April 27, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied the motion to stay.

Kenneth Williams v. Kelley, 5:07-cv-00234 (Federal Court; E. Dist. of Ark.): On April 25, Kenneth Williams filed a motion for relief from judg­ment, an amend­ed habeas peti­tion, and two motions for a stay of exe­cu­tion alleg­ing juror mis­con­duct and intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. On April 26, the fed­er­al dis­trict court entered an order trans­fer­ring the case to the Eighth Circuit because it lacked jurisdiction.

On April 26, Williams filed his appeal in the Eighth Circuit (Nos. 17 – 1892, 17 – 1893, 17 – 1896). He filed a motion for cer­tifi­cate of appeal­a­bil­i­ty ask­ing the Eighth Circuit to review the dis­trict court’s denial of relief and filed a motion to stay his exe­cu­tion. He also filed a pro­tec­tive appli­ca­tion to file a suc­ces­sive habeas peti­tion, along with a motion to stay his exe­cu­tion. The fil­ings relate to Williams’s intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty and juror mis­con­duct. On April 27, at approx­i­mate­ly 5:06pm CST the Eighth Circuit issued an opin­ion deny­ing the dis­trict court autho­riza­tion to con­sid­er the peti­tion, deny­ing the motion for cer­tifi­cate of appeal­a­bil­i­ty, deny­ing the pro­tec­tive appli­ca­tion, and deny­ing the stay. Judge Kelly dis­sent­ed in part, say­ing that she would allow review of his intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty claim, but con­curred in the hold­ing that the juror mis­con­duct claim is barred as a suc­ces­sive peti­tion and con­curred (reluc­tant­ly) in the denial of the stay application. 

On April 27, Williams filed a peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari and appli­ca­tion for a stay of exe­cu­tion in the U.S. Supreme Court (Nos.16 – 8922 & 16A1044), in antic­i­pa­tion of a loss in the Eighth Circuit. The State has filed an oppo­si­tion to the peti­tion and stay. The Fair Punishment Project at Harvard Law School has sub­mit­ted an ami­cus brief in sup­port of Williams. On April 27, at approx­i­mate­ly 10:10pm CST, the Supreme Court denied the appli­ca­tions for stay of exe­cu­tion, which were filed from the Eighth Circuit denial and a sep­a­rate orig­i­nal peti­tion for writ of habeas cor­pus. (The orders are here, here, here.)

Kenneth Williams v. State, No. CR-06 – 511 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court): On April 21, 2017, Kenneth Williams filed a Motion for Stay of Execution Pending Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in Circuit Court of Lincoln County based on intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. On April 26, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied Williams’ stay motion. 

Kenneth Williams v. State, No. 40CV-17 – 46 (State Court; Lincoln County Circuit Court): On April 21, 2017, Kenneth Williams filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus based on intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. On April 24, the court dis­missed the peti­tion for facial defect. On April 25, Williams filed a cor­rect­ed peti­tion, and the State filed its response. On April 27, the cir­cuit court issued an order dis­miss­ing the peti­tion.

Kenneth Williams v. State, No. 17 – 349 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court): On April 27, 2017, Kenneth Williams filed a motion to stay his exe­cu­tion pend­ing appeal of Lincoln County Circuit Court’s denial of his peti­tion for writ of habeas cor­pus. On April 27, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied his stay motion.

Kenneth Williams v. State, No. CR-06 – 511 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court): On April 24, 2017, Kenneth Williams filed a Motion to Recall the Mandate and Motion for Stay of Execution Concerning Jurors’ Failure to Consider Mitigating Evidence, which includ­ed evi­dence Williams is bor­der­line men­tal­ly retard­ed, that he wit­nessed ​“chron­ic mar­i­tal con­flict” and domes­tic abuse when his father was in the home, that he grew up in ​“marked pover­ty,” and that he suf­fered from inad­e­quate par­ent­ing on account of his mother’s men­tal retar­da­tion. On April 26, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied Williams’ motion to recall man­date and for stay of execution. 

On April 27, attor­neys for Kenneth Williams peti­tioned Governor Asa Hutchinson for a tem­po­rary reprieve from his exe­cu­tion to allow the Arkansas Parole Board to con­sid­er new facts they have obtained since Mr. Williams’ March 31, 2017 clemen­cy hear­ing. The attor­neys are seek­ing a reprieve so the Parole Board can con­sid­er addi­tion­al evi­dence that Mr. Williams is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled and inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty, and to give Kayla Greenwood, the daugh­ter of non-cap­i­tal vic­tim Michael Greenwood, and Stacey Yaw, Mr. Greenwood’s wid­ow, an oppor­tu­ni­ty to tes­ti­fy at the Arkansas Parole Board in sup­port of Mr. Williams’ clemen­cy. Members of the Greenwood fam­i­ly also sought an oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet with Governor Hutchinson in the hope that he would spare Mr. Williams’ life. The Reprieve let­ter can be accessed here. Governor Hutchinson declined to grant a reprieve. 

Marcel Williams v. Kelley, No. CR-97 – 949 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court): On April 24, 2017, Marcel Williams filed a Motion to Recall the Mandate and For Stay of Execution alleg­ing that his coun­sel pla­gia­rized his brief and ask­ing the Court to stay his exe­cu­tion until the U.S. Supreme Court decides the case Davila v. Davis, a case in which the Court heard argu­ment today. At 7:27pm CST, the Court denied the motion.

Marcel Williams v. Kelley, No. 5:17-cv-00103-KGB (Federal Court; E. Dist. of Ark.): Marcel Williams filed a law­suit in fed­er­al court on April 11, 2017, alleg­ing that exe­cut­ing him under the cur­rent lethal-injec­tion pro­to­col would vio­late the Eighth Amendment due to his mul­ti­ple health con­di­tions, includ­ing dia­betes, hyper­ten­sion, hyper­triglyc­eridemia, hyper­c­ho­les­terolemia, mor­bid obe­si­ty, and sleep apnea. Read the com­plaint here. On April 18, the Court issued an order requir­ing Williams to show cause why his com­plaint should not be dis­missed in light of the Eighth Circuit’s rul­ing McGehee v. Hutchinson, No. 17 – 1804 (the rul­ing from April 17 that vacat­ed the pris­on­ers’ pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion grant­ed on lethal-injec­tion chal­lenge). On April 18, McWilliams filed his response to the order. On April 21, the dis­trict court denied Williams’s request to stay his execution. 

On April 21, Williams appealed the denial of relief to the Eighth Circuit, No. 17 – 1848. Briefing was com­plet­ed at 09:53 PM on April 23. On April 24, at 02:13 PM CST, Eighth Circuit denied Williams’ request for a stay of exe­cu­tion pend­ing review of his appeal. 

On April 24, Williams filed an appli­ca­tion for stay of exe­cu­tion and a peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari with the U.S. Supreme Court, 16 – 8815 (16A1029).

On April 24, the Supreme Court denied the stay; Justice Sotomayor dis­sent­ed from the denial. 

On April 24, short­ly before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion time of 8:15pm CST, Marcel Williams filed emer­gency motion for stay based on prob­lems with Jones’ exe­cu­tion. The fed­er­al dis­trict judge issued a Temporary Stay at 8:15pm CST. The State then filed an oppo­si­tion to Williams’ emer­gency motion. At 9:22pm CST, TEMPORARY STAY WAS LIFTED. Here is the tran­script of the hear­ing that was held between 8:47pm and 9:21pm.

Marcel Williams v. Kelley, No. 5:02-cv-00450-JLH (Federal Court; E. Dist. of Ark.): On April 1, 2017, Marcel Williams filed a motion in his fed­er­al habeas case ask­ing the court to re-open his case based on Supreme Court cas­es Martinez v. Ryan and Trevino v. Thaler, and deter­mine whether he is enti­tled to relief on inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel dur­ing the guilt/​innocence phase of his tri­al. On April 18, the dis­trict court denied the motion.

On April 21, Williams appealed the denial of relief to the Eighth Circuit, No. 17 – 1825. Briefing was com­plet­ed at 04:56 PM on April 23. On April 24, at 01:42 PM CST, Eighth Circuit denied Williams’ request for a stay of exe­cu­tion pend­ing review of his appeal. 

On April 24, Williams filed an appli­ca­tion for stay of exe­cu­tion and a peti­tion for writ of cer­tio­rari with the U.S. Supreme Court, 16 – 8816 (16A1030).

On April 24, the Supreme Court denied the stay.

Marcel Williams v. Kelley, No. CR-97 – 949 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court): On April 19, 2017, Marcel Williams filed an Emergency Motion to Recall the Mandate and for Stay of Execution assert­ing that his direct appeal was defec­tive because his sen­tenc­ing-phase ver­dict forms were absent from the record. After the ver­dict forms were made part of the record, on April 22, Williams filed a sup­ple­men­tal motion to his orig­i­nal motion, explain­ing that the jury forms do not demon­strate that the jury prop­er­ly reviewed the mitigation evidence. 

On April 24, at 12:29pm CST, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied the motion for stay.

Jones v. State, No. CR-96 – 541 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court): On April 23, Jack Jones filed a Motion for Recall of Mandate and Motion for Stay of Execution assert­ing that his jury ver­dict at the penal­ty phase was based on incon­sis­tent find­ings regarding mitigation. 

On April 24, at 12:32pm CST, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied the motion for stay.

On April 24, Jones filed a motion to stay his exe­cu­tion with the U.S. Supreme Court. At approx­i­mate­ly 6:15pm CST, the Supreme Court denied his request.

Jones v. Kelley, No. 5:17-cv-00111 (Federal Court; E. Dist. of Ark.): On April 17, Jack Jones filed a law­suit and motion for pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion alleg­ing that exe­cut­ing him under the cur­rent lethal-injec­tion pro­to­col would vio­late the Eighth Amendment due to his mul­ti­ple health con­di­tions, includ­ing dia­betes and sleep apnea, because these con­di­tions would pre­vent mida­zo­lam from work­ing prop­er­ly. On April 21, the dis­trict court denied Jones’ request for preliminary injunction. 

On April 22, Jones appealed the denial of relief to the Eighth Circuit, No. 17 – 1849. On April 24, at 11:32am CST, the Eighth Circuit issued an order affirm­ing the denial of relief and found that Jones was not dili­gent in bring­ing his claim, that he had not demon­strat­ed that a sig­nif­i­cant pos­si­bil­i­ty that he can ​“show that the Arkansas pro­to­col is sure or very like­ly to cause severe pain and need­less suf­fer­ing” and that he had not pro­vid­ed an alter­na­tive method of execution. 

On April 24, Jones filed a motion to stay his exe­cu­tion with the U.S. Supreme Court. At approx­i­mate­ly 6:15pmCST, the Supreme Court denied his request.

Lee v. State, Case No. 60CR-93 – 1249 (State Court, Circuit Court of Pulaski County). On April 17, 2017: Ledell Lee filed law­suit in state court seek­ing to have DNA test­ing and a hear­ing relat­ed to his inno­cence. His motion for relief is here; the State’s response is here. Oral argu­ment sched­uled for 1:30pm on April 18. On April 18, the court issued an order deny­ing Lee’s request. 

On April 19, Lee appealed the denial of relief and filed a motion to stay his exe­cu­tion in the Arkansas Supreme Court, CR-17 – 315. 

On April 20, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied Lee’s appeal and stay of exe­cu­tion; Justice Hart dis­sent­ed and would have grant­ed the DNA motion, point­ing out that ​“Lee’s post­con­vic­tion request is iden­ti­cal to the request made in Johnson v. State, CR-17 – 312, a case decid­ed only yes­ter­day in which [the Court] stayed Stacey Johnson’s exe­cu­tion and remand­ed to the cir­cuit court on Johnson’s motion for post­con­vic­tion DNA test­ing.” Justice Hart said she was ​“at a loss to explain this court’s dis­sim­i­lar treat­ment of sim­i­lar­ly situated litigants.”

On April 20, at approx­i­mate­ly 8:20pm CST, the U.S. Supreme Court grant­ed a tem­po­rary stay to review the plead­ings. The Supreme Court denied the stay appli­ca­tion, and vacat­ed the tem­po­rary stay at approx­i­mate­ly 11:25pm CST.

Lee v. State, Case No. CR-08 – 160 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court). On April 19, Lee filed a motion to recall the man­date and for a stay of exe­cu­tion in the Arkansas Supreme Court (Case No. CR-08 – 160), argu­ing that his exe­cu­tion should be stayed, his post-con­vic­tion case should be re-opened, and he should be per­mit­ted DNA test­ing. This issue was not pre­vi­ous­ly lit­i­gat­ed due to his intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty and his pri­or coun­sel’s fail­ure to inves­ti­gate and request such testing. 

On April 20, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied Lee’s motion to recall the man­date and his request for stay of execution. 

Lee v. Kelley, No. 5:01-cv-00377-DPM (Federal Court; E. Dist. of Ark.). On April 18, 2107, Ledell Lee filed a motion for post-con­vic­tion relief in the fed­er­al dis­trict court seek­ing habeas relief due to the break­down of coun­sel at every stage of his pro­ceed­ings, which result­ed in the fail­ure to present mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty, brain dys­func­tion, and fetal alco­hol syn­drome.

On April 20, the dis­trict court denied relief.

Also on April 20, the Eighth Circuit (Case No. 17 – 1838) denied relief. 

Lee v. State, No. CR96-553 (State Court; Arkansas Supreme Court). On April 20, Ledell Lee filed a motion to recall the man­date and for a writ of error coram nobis on the basis that Lee may be intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled. On April 20, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied the motion. 

DPIC Analysis: What is the Most Executions Conducted in the U.S. in the Shortest Time Span?: A DPIC data analy­sis of pre­vi­ous high-vol­ume exe­cu­tion peri­ods, includ­ing mul­ti­ple exe­cu­tions car­ried out on the same day.

Arkansas Schedules Unprecedented Eight Executions in Ten-Day Period: A DPIC short sum­ma­ry of Arkansas’ announce­ment of the exe­cu­tion sched­ule, and the rea­sons for car­ry­ing out so many exe­cu­tions in a short period.

Prisoners on Arkansas’s Execution List Defined by Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability, and Bad Lawyering: A report by the Fair Punishment Project on the legal and psy­cho­log­i­cal issues in the eight cas­es sched­uled for exe­cu­tion. Features brief case sum­maries for all eight prisoners.

Corrections Officials Warn Arkansas Leaders About Psychological Trauma From Unprecedented Execution Schedule: A com­pi­la­tion of quotes from for­mer cor­rec­tions offi­cials, warn­ing that the hur­ried exe­cu­tion sched­ule could have neg­a­tive men­tal health effects on prison personnel.

Letter to Governor Hutchinson from Former Corrections Officials: Former cor­rec­tions offi­cials and admin­is­tra­tors (some of whom have direct­ly over­seen exe­cu­tions) write Governor Hutchinson ask­ing him to recon­sid­er the con­densed execution schedule.

Arkansas Prisoners, Asserting Their Innocence, File Requests for DNA Testing: A DPIC sum­ma­ry of the inno­cence claims filed by Stacey Johnson and Ledell Lee.

Arkansas Lethal-Injection Protocol: This is the chem­i­cal chart that Arkansas intends to use to car­ry out the upcoming executions.