Race against the clock will place bright spotlight on Arkansas

THE state of Arkansas has executed six people since the turn of this century. By the end of the month it plans to exceed that total by two, in a move that will make that state the focal point of activists on both sides of the death penalty.

Oklahoma knows the feeling. For a time in 2014, following the bungled administration of an execution, Oklahoma was a hotbed for those who want the death penalty abolished. Inmate Clayton Lockett writhed for several minutes on the gurney before eventually dying of a heart attack. A second execution planned for the same day was called off.

Arkansas, concerned about the pending expiration of an execution drug, plans to conduct two executions on four days between April 17 and April 27. The men in line to be put to death were all convicted of murder, and in some cases rape, prior to 2000.

Advocates for victims’ relatives argue that these families have been made to wait long enough to see justice done for their loved ones. On the other hand, anti-death penalty groups worry about the state’s ability to carry out the plan, and the toll it might take on those involved.

Indeed, one of the recommendations from a state investigation into the Lockett execution was that Oklahoma space out its executions and not conduct more than one in a day. The schedule on the day Lockett was executed produced added stress for staff members, investigators found.

Twenty-five former corrections officials from across the country wrote to Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson noting their concern that his plan “will impose extraordinary and unnecessary stress and trauma on the staff responsible with carrying out the executions.” Hutchinson has said corrections department staffers have told him they’re OK with the schedule.

Hutchinson set this lineup because Arkansas’ supply of the sedative midazolam will soon expire. Oklahoma also uses midazolam, and defended that practice in a case it won before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015. But this will be Arkansas’ first time to use the drug, which is another point of concern among anti-death penalty groups. And, it will be the first execution in Arkansas in more than a decade — the last was in November 2005.

There is one other facet to this plan that the governor and others may not have anticipated. State law in Arkansas requires at least six people witness an execution, but finding enough volunteers has proven especially challenging — so much so that the corrections director extended invitations at a recent Rotary Club meeting in Little Rock.

“You seem to be a group that does not have felony backgrounds and are over 21,” Director Wendy Kelley told the group, according to The Arkansas DemocratGazette. “So if you’re interested in serving in that area, in this serious role, just call my office.”

That prompted a harsh rebuke from the newspaper’s longtime opinion page editor, Paul Greenberg. “So hurry, hurry, hurry and sign up for the big show,” Greenberg wrote. “No waiting! Immediate seating is available! If you’ve got the stomach for it.”

Arkansas officials need to steel their appetites for constant publicity, most of it likely negative, because it’s on the way.