Multiple executions rare in US, Arkansas just scheduled 4

Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday scheduled four double-executions in April. If carried out, the executions would mark the first time in nearly two decades that a state executed more than one inmate in a day, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit research group that opposes executions.

Here is a list of multiple executions carried out on the same day in the same state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstate the death penalty in 1976:

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TRIPLE EXECUTIONS

Arkansas, Aug. 3, 1994 — James Holmes, Darryl Richley and Hoyt Clines

Arkansas, Jan. 8, 1997 — Paul Ruiz, Earl Van Denton and Kirt Wainwright

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DOUBLE EXECUTIONS

Arkansas, May 11, 1994 — Edward Pickens and Jonas Whitmore

Texas, Jan. 31, 1995 — Clifton Russell and Willie Williams

Illinois, March 22, 1995 — Hernando Williams and James Free

Texas, June 4, 1997 — Davis Losada and Dorsie Johnson-Bey

Illinois, Nov. 19, 1997 — Walter Stewart and Durlyn Eddmonds

South Carolina, Dec. 4, 1998 — Half-brothers J.D. Gleaton and Larry Gilbert

Arkansas, Sept. 8, 1999 — Allen Willett and Mark Gardner

Texas, Aug. 9, 2000 — Brian Roberson and Oliver Cruz

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(Source: Death Penalty Information Center)