Execution probe dismissed

The Arkansas governor said Friday that he sees no reason for anything beyond a routine review of procedures after a condemned inmate lurched and convulsed 20 times during a lethal injection.

Attorneys for Kenneth Williams and the American Civil Liberties Union have called for a full investigation after Williams became the fourth convicted killer executed in Arkansas in eight days. The state sought to carry out as many lethal injections as possible before one of its drugs expires Sunday.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters that Williams’ execution will be reviewed by the Department of Correction, which is typical any time an inmate is put to death.

The governor also said the use of the sedative midazolam, which was a component of Williams’ injection, has been upheld by courts. He said he does not think Arkansas needs to change its execution protocol.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the execution said that about three minutes in, Williams’ body jerked 15 times in quick succession, lurching violently against the leather restraint across his chest. Then the rate slowed for a final five movements.

J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Hutchinson who did not witness the execution, called the movements “an involuntary muscular reaction” that he said was a widely known effect of the surgical sedative midazolam, the first of three drugs administered.

Williams’ attorneys released a statement calling witness accounts “horrifying” and demanding an investigation into what they called the “problematic execution.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas backed up that call for a review.