(Arkansas Department of Correction: Clockwise from top left, are Bruce Ward, Kenneth Williams, Jack Harold Jones, Jason McGehee, Stacey Johnson, Don Williamson Davis, Marcel Williams and Ledell Lee)
Next month the state of Arkansas is planning to execute 8 inmates over a period of 10 days.
It's a pace unequaled in recent U.S. history, and the reason for the haste is because the drug used for state lethal injections is expiring soon.
The 8 men facing death are among 34 of Arkansas' death row inmates. Capital punishment has been suspended since 2005 because of legal challenges and difficulty in getting the lethal injection drugs.
All 8 men were convicted of murder between 1989 and 1999. Proponents of the death penalty and victims' rights in Arkansas are angry that their cases have dragged on for so long.
Speaking about the close scheduling of the executions, Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson said:
“I would love to have those extended over a period of multiple months and years, but that’s not the circumstances that I find myself in. And, again, the families of the victims that have endured this for so many years deserve a conclusion to it.”
The 8 men set to die are:
- Kenneth Williams
- Bruce Ward
- Stacey Johnson
- Don Williamson Davis
- Ledell Lee
- Jack Harold Jones
- Jason McGehee
- Marcel Williams
These guys did some pretty heinous and disgusting stuff. Fry these creeps already.