(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)
Arkansas lawmakers are struggling to find enough volunteers to watch 8 death row inmate executions scheduled to happen in April.
An interesting state law requires 6 to 12 witnesses per execution to ensure that it's carried out, but not enough people are stepping forward to watch.
A Department of Correction spokesperson says they're taking informal approaches to find witnesses, but they're confident they'll find people in time.
At a Little Rock Rotary Club, the Director of the DOC hosted a presentation, and then casually asked the audience if anybody wanted to come watch the executions.
The Club's President said:
“Temporarily there was a little laugh from the audience because they thought she might be kidding… it quickly became obvious that she was not kidding. It’s a very sobering thought.”
If you want to volunteer to watch, you can write to the DOC director:
Arkansas Department of Correction
Attn: Director Wendy Kelley PO Box 8701 Pine Bluff, AR 71611
Maybe we'll go out there to watch! John and Ken's Execution Road Trip 2017!