Dates set for executions of 8 inmates on Arkansas’ death row

Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) 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 state executions by lethal injection.

The following schedule was released by Hutchinson’s office for execution dates:

The judgments against Bruce Earl Ward, convicted of the Aug. 11, 1989, murder of Rebecca Doss of Little Rock, and Don William Davis, convicted of the Oct. 12, 1990, murder of Jane Daniel of Rogers, will be carried out on Oct. 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 Nov. 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 Dec. 14, 2015.

Jason McGehee, who was convicted of the Aug. 19, 1996, murder of John Melbourne, Jr., of Harrison, and Kenneth Williams, who was convicted of the Oct. 3, 1999, murder of Cecil Boren of Grady, are set for Jan. 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.

In Arkansas, a person convicted of capital murder may face either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Capital murder is often sought by prosecutors when another crime, like kidnapping or rape, is committed in connection with a murder. There are 39 inmates on death row in Arkansas.