Arkansas carries out first double execution in US since 2000

Arkansas carried out back-to-back executions on Monday night, administering lethal injections to two men convicted of rape and murder to become the first US state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day in 17 years

Jack Jones and Marcel Williams were both sentenced to death crimes committed in the 1990s.

The two men were among eight that the state had initially planned to execute over the course of 11 days this month, prompted by the expiration date of the state's supplies a sedative used as part of the three-drug protocol for executions.

Marcel Williams, 46, was pronounced dead at 10:33 CDT, a little more than three hours after the execution of 52-year-old Jack Jones, according to officials at Cummins Unit prison, about 75 miles southeast of the state capital, Little Rock.

Williams' execution was temporarily put on hold just minutes before he was scheduled to die by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker in Little Rock, after his lawyers raised concerns that Jones' execution had been botched.

In a last-minute appeal, Williams' attorneys claimed Jones was still moving more than five minutes after he received a sedative, midazolam, that is supposed to render inmates unconscious.

That description did not appear to match initial observations from reporters witnessing the execution. They described Jones' lips moving after he finished his last words but said there were no signs of distress, according to local media reports.

A district judge allowed the execution to go ahead after a brief hearing.

Governor Asa Hutchinson said he hoped the executions would bring closure to the victim's families.

On Thursday, Ledell Lee became the first person to be executed in Arkansas since 2005.

Four of those executions have been put on hold by court order.