LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – The Arkansas Parole Board recommended Wednesday that a murderer’s request to be spared from lethal injection be rejected, the third clemency bid knocked down this week as the state prepares an unprecedented plan to conduct four double executions over 10 days in April.
The board ruled by a 5-2 vote that Marcel Williams’ clemency request was without merit, though the ultimate decision rests with Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The Republican governor has scheduled all eight executions before Arkansas’ supply of midazolam, a sedative the state plans to use in the executions, expires at the end of April. Arkansas hasn’t conducted an execution since 2005.
Wednesday’s decision means the board has now rejected three of the five inmates who asked the board to spare their lives. Hearings on the two remaining clemency requests are set for Friday.
Williams, 46, was convicted of raping and suffocating Stacy Errickson in 1994. Prosecutors say Williams abducted the young mother when she stopped for gas in Jacksonville, drove her to various ATMs and forced her take out about $350. Police found her hosiery and lunch cooler at a storage facility. Her beaten and bound body was found in a park two weeks later.
Williams confessed to the killing, saying during his clemency hearing Monday that he takes responsibility.