Governor asked to set executions for 8 inmates

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has officially asked Gov. Asa Hutchinson to set execution dates for eight death-row inmates who have exhausted all appeals.

The request Tuesday came after a 10-year hiatus on executions in the state because of legal challenges to the state’s death-penalty procedures.

The last execution — Eric Nance, convicted of murdering 18-year-old Julie Heath of Malvern in 1993 — was carried out in November 2005 by using a three-drug cocktail of phenobarbital, a paralytic agent and potassium chloride.

The Arkansas Department of Correction recently obtained the execution drugs, one of which was midazolam.

The use of the drug was challenged in federal court after a handful of botched executions. Death-penalty opponents claimed that the drug does not induce a complete level of unconsciousness, which allows the inmate to feel pain.

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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