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Thursday 28 March |
Holy Thursday of the Supper of the Lord
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Another Arkansas inmate receives communion as his last meal

Death penalty – fr

© Public Domain

Deacon Greg Kandra - published on 04/28/17

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Details: 

A prison spokesman says an Arkansas inmate scheduled to be the fourth executed in a week opted to receive communion instead of a traditional last meal. Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves says that [Kenneth] Williams received communion from his spiritual adviser. Williams was also served a regular prison meal that included fried chicken, beans, rice, corn, tomatoes, cinnamon rolls, two cookies, four slices of bread and punch. Last week, condemned inmate Ledell Lee also chose to receive communion instead of a last meal. As for the execution itself, there is this:
An attorney for the fourth Arkansas inmate executed in eight days says accounts of the lethal injection are “horrifying.” Shawn Nolan was one of Kenneth Williams’ attorneys who’d filed multiple requests to stop the Thursday night execution. One challenge argued that Williams had medical issues that could make his lethal injection painful. Nolan said in a statement that he’s requesting “a full investigation into tonight’s problematic execution.” An attorney for the fourth Arkansas inmate executed in eight days says accounts of the lethal injection are “horrifying.” Shawn Nolan was one of Kenneth Williams’ attorneys who’d filed multiple requests to stop the Thursday night execution. One challenge argued that Williams had medical issues that could make his lethal injection painful. Nolan said in a statement that he’s requesting “a full investigation into tonight’s problematic execution.” A spokesman for Arkansas’ governor says repeated movements by an inmate executed by the state Thursday night were an “involuntary muscular reaction” to one of the drugs used. Spokesman J.R. Davis says he expects Gov. Asa Hutchinson to review Thursday’s lethal injection of Kenneth Williams but said the governor is confident in how state’s fourth execution in eight days was carried out. Davis stood by his previous description of the state’s recent executions as “flawless.”

Williams was sentenced to death for the killing of a former deputy prison warden following an escape. Williams broke out less than three weeks into a life term for killing a college cheerleader.

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