Arkansas races against clock to begin 1st executions

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this report misstated that Don Davis' execution already had been carried out.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas raced against the clock late Monday to get U.S. Supreme Court approval to execute one convicted killer before midnight but backed off putting another inmate to death as part of what had been a plan to carry out double executions on four nights before the state’s supply of a lethal injection drug expires.

On a whirlwind Monday:

• First, the Arkansas Supreme Court barred Judge Wendell Griffen of the 6th Judicial Circuit here from hearing any death-penalty cases after he allowed himself to be strapped to a cot Friday during a protest to simulate an inmate being injected. The state high court additionally asked a disciplinary panel to consider whether Griffen violated the judicial code of conduct, which could lead to his firing.

• Second, the justices granted stays of execution for Don Davis and Bruce Ward, whose lawyers first want to know how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on a case concerning defendants' access to independent mental health experts. The federal high court will hold oral arguments in that case April 24, which could upend state officials' plans for the executions in an effort to use a three-drug protocol before the expiration date on one of the batches of drugs.

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• Then, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker's Saturday decision to halt the executions over the use of the sedative midazolam, but the state Supreme Court’s rulings remained in place.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said she wouldn’t appeal the stay of Ward’s execution. Ward, 60, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his lawyers say he doesn't rationally understand his fate even though he was convicted in 1990 of strangling convenience store clerk Rebecca Doss, 18, of Little Rock.

But Davis was being prepped for a quick trip to the execution room if the U.S. Supreme Court allows it and already has been given a meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, great Northern beans, fruit punch and strawberry cake. In 1990, Davis was convicted of killing Jane Daniel, 62, of Rogers, Ark., in her home.

• Little more than an hour after the appeals court ruling, the state high court lifted Griffen's Friday ruling that had blocked the executions by prohibiting the state from using its supply of vecuronium bromide, one of the other lethal injection drugs. San Francisco-based McKesson Medical-Surgical had requested a temporary restraining order, saying the Arkansas Department of Correction misled the medical supplies company when the government obtained its drugs.

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Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson showed his frustration at the complicated court proceedings.

"Today the 8th Circuit expressed no concern over the execution schedule and the legislatively mandated means to carry out the lethal injection protocol," Hutchinson said in a statement. "However, the state Supreme Court went a different direction."

The state Supreme Court was divided 4-3 on its two stays, so Hutchinson said he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule. The death warrants for both Davis and Ward expire at midnight CT, and it was not clear whether Hutchinson would immediately set new execution dates for either or both if they are not put to death.

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Arkansas had set up a schedule to execute eight prisoners before its supply of the midazolam expires at the end of the month. The corrections department has not put an inmate to death since 2005, and no state has executed two inmates successfully in one day using midazolam.

If court proceedings are pushed into May, officials won’t be able to carry out the executions with the drugs they have on hand.

Despite some legal setbacks, state officials had hopes earlier in the day that the executions still could begin at 7 p.m. State officials had planned to start their lethal injections Monday then continue Thursday, April 24 and April 27, a 10-day stretch that would mark the most inmates put to death by a state in such a short period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

"Don't be surprised if it's a late night" because of court actions, Hutchinson said at mid-afternoon.

► 2014: Missteps led to botched Oklahoma execution, report says
► 2014: Ohio inmate suffered during execution, anesthesiologist says

The state’s lawyers had pressed the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the executions to begin, saying that filings from the Death Row inmates simply were stall tactics, even though state and federal courts had ruled that the men were entitled to additional appeals.

“Reject the state’s request for a rushed analysis of this complex record,” the inmates' lawyers wrote. The lawyers contend that the cocktail of drugs that the state plans to use will cause "unconstitutional pain, suffering and torture" if the midazolam does not work as planned.

Four states — Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma and Virginia — already have used midazolam as the first drug in a three-drug protocol, according to the Death Penalty Information Center:

• In April 2014, Oklahoma used the drug to execute Clayton Lockett, who struggled, groaned and writhed in pain for 43 minutes before he died.

• In December, Alabama used the drug to execute Ronald Smith, and he spent nearly 15 minutes heaving and gasping for breath.

Ohio had similar problems in 2014 when it used midazolam as part of a two-step execution-drug process. Two inmates gasped for breath and took longer than expected to die.

Arkansas Solicitor General Lee Rudofsky countered that the Arkansas inmates were trying to run out the clock, “blatantly attempting to manipulate the judicial system and shield themselves from justice.”

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow KTHV-TV on Twitter: @THV11