(AP) Arkansas wrapped up an accelerated executions schedule with a lethal injection that left the condemned inmate lurching and convulsing before he died, prompting calls for investigations and renewed scrutiny of the state’s efforts to put multiple inmates to death on a compressed timeline.Kenneth Williams on Thursday became the fourth convicted killer executed in Arkansas in eight days as the state sought to carry out as many lethal injections as possible before one of its drugs expires Sunday.
An Associated Press reporter who witnessed Kenneth Williams’ execution
Thursday said that about three minutes into the lethal injection, his body
jerked 15 times in quick succession. He lurched violently against the leather chest restraint, then the rate slowed for a final five movements.
One of Williams’ attorneys called the execution “horrifying.” A spokesman for Governor Asa Hutchinson called it “an involuntary muscular reaction.”
The compressed lethal injection timeline could attract more scrutiny after
Williams’ death. Arkansas sought to carry out as many lethal injections as
possible before one of its drugs expires Sunday. It executed four prisoners, while four others received court stays.
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