Arkansas executes 1 inmate

Second blocked, then cleared

VARNER, Ark. - A federal judge cleared Arkansas to perform a rare double execution Monday night, lifting her order that had temporarily blocked a second lethal injection after attorneys raised concerns about the first.

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker temporarily stopped Arkansas from executing Marcel Williams, but lifted her stay after about an hour. Attorneys had argued that the first inmate executed, Jack Jones, gulped for air and suffered during his lethal injection. The Arkansas attorney general’s office disputed that account.

A spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said Williams’ execution Monday night could proceed after the order was lifted. It wasn’t clear if his lawyers were pursuing other options to delay the punishment, with his death warrant due to expire at midnight.

Jones received a lethal injection earlier Monday evening that lasted 14 minutes.

In the emergency filing, Williams’ attorneys wrote that officials spent 45 minutes trying to place an IV line in Jones’ neck before placing it elsewhere. It argued that Williams, who weighs 400 pounds, could face a “torturous” death because of his weight.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the execution said Jones moved his lips briefly after the midazolam was administered, and officials put a tongue depressor in his mouth intermittently for the first few minutes. His chest stopped moving two minutes after they checked for consciousness, and he was pronounced dead at 7:20 p.m.

Jones was sent to death row for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips. He was also convicted of attempting to kill Phillips’ 11-year-old daughter and was convicted in another rape and killing in Florida.