The drug manufacturers of midazolam and potassium chloride, two more drugs used by Arkansas in executions, tried to help in McKesson's court battle over the vecuronium bromide.
Two other inmates - Jack Harold Jones and Marcel W. Williams, both sentenced to death for capital murder - are scheduled to be executed Monday. Arkansas adopted an aggressive schedule of eight executions in an 11-day period, but stays have been issued for four of the men initially set to die.
Legal and pharmaceutical experts say the methods Arkansas used to obtain drugs for executions raise concerns about the state's respect for contracts between private businesses.
But after 11:00 p.m., the Supreme Court issued orders denying the outstanding appeal requests, allowing the execution to proceed.
The state is set to execute Ledell Lee at its Cummins Unit in Grady, which houses the state's death chamber sometime after 8:15 p.m. (0115 GMT). According to Bloomberg, each of the court's four liberal justices voted in favor of at least one of Lee's requests for a stay of execution. When asked what he wanted for his final meal, Lee opted to have holy communion instead. Stacey Johnson, 47, won a state Supreme Court ruling in favor of further DNA testing. John Moritz of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, from left, Sean Murphy of The Associated Press and Marine Glisovic witnessed Lee's death.
He became the first prisoner to be put to death in the state's original plan that called for eight executions over an 11-day span before its supply of midazolam expires at the end of April. Neil Gorsuch, the new Supreme Court justice, sided with conservatives in the decision.
Rockets determined to play better in conference semis
Rudy Gobert got hurt just after tip-off of game one, and missed the first three games in which the Clippers took a two-one lead. Alexander walked from his courtside seat and said something to Kennedy before returning to sit down.
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. Since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, no state ever has put so many prisoners to death over such a short period. Arkansas, which hadn't executed anyone since 2005, is among states that have had difficulty acquiring the drugs it needs for lethal injections.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray had ordered a halt on the drug for executions, but she was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court. Morrison represents Ledell Lee, an inmate also scheduled to be executed Thursday night, who has appealed his execution, arguing that he has an intellectual disability and seeking to prove his innocence.
A lawyer for Lee, who has maintained his innocence for years, launched a last-minute appeal to halt the execution with a federal court in Little Rock.
The Associated Press has obtained letters showing that a drugmaker previous year asked Arkansas not to purchase its products for use in executions.
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. In fact, the court ordered Griffen removed from all death penalty cases after photos emerged of him participating in a rally against the executions. Lee was 51 when he died Thursday night, the first of several planned executions.
"When I set the dates, I knew there could be delays in one or more of the cases, but I expected the courts to allow the juries' sentences to be carried out, since each case had been reviewed multiple times", Hutchinson said in a statement. Davis also stated that the governor said he had great confidence in the Arkansas Department Correction.
Comments