Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Protesters gather outside the state Capitol building on Friday. Kelly P. Kissel

Supreme Court blocks last-minute attempt by Arkansas to execute murderer

Justices declined an appeal from the state’s attorney general to lift a stay barring the execution of Don Davis.

THE US SUPREME Court last night denied a last-minute request from Arkansas state authorities for permission to carry out its first execution in more than a decade.

The US high court decision is the latest in a flurry of legal setbacks to the southeastern state’s original plan to carry out eight executions between April 17 and 27, an unprecedented pace.

Justices declined an appeal from the state’s attorney general to lift a stay barring the execution of Don Davis, who was slated to be the first of several inmates to die this month.

The Arkansas Supreme Court had blocked the executions of Davis and one other inmate, after lawyers had requested the executions be delayed until the US Supreme Court hears a separate case concerning prisoners’ access to mental health experts who are independent of the prosecution.

But Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge swiftly filed an application with the US Supreme Court to obtain permission to proceed with the execution of just Davis.

As he awaited the court to decide his fate Davis ate fried chicken, mashed potatoes and strawberry cake – what could have been his last meal.

The US Supreme court’s denial of the state’s request came minutes before Davis’s execution warrant expired at midnight local time , wrapping up a day of legal wrangling among state and federal courts over the state’s accelerated execution plan.

‘An exhausting day’

Arkansas Executions Actor Johnny Depp stands with Damien Echols, right, before speaking at an anti-death-penalty rally on the front steps of Arkansas' Capitol. STEPHEN B. THORNTON STEPHEN B. THORNTON

The legal roadblock constitutes yet another setback for Arkansas’s Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, who had pushed for the accelerated executions as the expiration of the state’s supply of midazolam drew near.

“While this has been an exhausting day for all involved, tomorrow we will continue to fight back on last minute appeals and efforts to block justice for the victims’ families,” Hutchinson said in a statement.

He said the state would continue towards carrying out the executions of the other inmates.

Hours prior to the US Supreme Court decision, state courts had lifted obstacles to continuing those plans.

The US Court of Appeals for the eighth Circuit reversed a federal judge’s broader stay on the executions, clearing the path for deaths scheduled to take place later this month to proceed.

The state’s Supreme Court also vacated an order blocking the use of the drug vecuronium bromide as part of a lethal-injection protocol.

© – AFP, 2017

Author
View 24 comments
Close
24 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mike
    Favourite Mike
    Report
    Aug 19th 2012, 5:23 PM

    Food and drink is where it’s at, and there’s room for future growth too.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony O Connor
    Favourite Tony O Connor
    Report
    Aug 19th 2012, 11:19 PM

    And not one technology company, which is probably a little worrying. No dot com companies either, which given the latest fiasco in this area – the Facebook floatation – is probably not a bad thing!

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eric De Red
    Favourite Eric De Red
    Report
    Aug 19th 2012, 8:22 PM

    AIB has a market cap of about €300m, not the €26,000m plus stated here. It may have had billions upon billions of taxpayers’ money pumped into it but that all went down a bottomless pit of property loan losses in order to pay back German banks.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adrian Bannon
    Favourite Adrian Bannon
    Report
    Aug 19th 2012, 3:10 PM

    Aside from tax loopholes and exploiting whatever they can in order to make money CRH,like nearly all modern business,are building a Apartheid Wall for the Israelis
    How CRH makes some of its profits..
    http://www.bdsmovement.net/2012/irish-and-palestinian-activists-to-crh-stop-cementing-apartheid-9057

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Amy Ní Caithláin
    Favourite Amy Ní Caithláin
    Report
    Aug 19th 2012, 7:10 PM

    What about the ESM listings? Personally I’d find them more interesting as this list is quite predictable.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seán O' Dulaing
    Favourite Seán O' Dulaing
    Report
    Aug 19th 2012, 8:22 PM

    No surprises at all really.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Brett
    Favourite Alan Brett
    Report
    Aug 20th 2012, 1:26 PM

    Some of the above (AIB in particular) have their shares listed on the ESM

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds