Arkansas executes two on death row

VARNER, Ark. — Arkansas executed death row inmates Jack Jones and Marcel Williams last night in the nation’s first double-execution since 2000.

Jones was pronounced dead at 7:20 p.m., 14 minutes after the procedure began at the state’s Cummins Unit. There were no apparent complications, and Jones’ chest stopped moving two minutes after officials checked for consciousness.

Jones, who’d argued that his health conditions could lead to a painful death, gave a lengthy last statement.

His final words were: “I’m sorry .... I hope over time you can learn who I really am and I am not a monster.”

Williams was due to be executed at 8:15 p.m. But a federal judge temporarily halted Williams’ execution after his attorneys questioned whether Jones’ execution went properly. Williams’ attorneys said it took 45 minutes to put the lethal IV into Jones, and argued that Williams, who weighs 400 pounds, could face a “torturous death.”

But the judge lifted the temporary stay and the execution proceeded at 10:16 p.m. Williams was pronounced dead at 10:33 p.m.

Jones was sent to death row for the 1995 rape and murder of Mary Phillips and attempting to kill Phillips’ 11-year-old daughter.

Williams was convicted of the 1994 rape and killing of Stacy Errickson, 22, whom he kidnapped from a gas station.