By KELLY P. KISSEL / Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A judge on Thursday blocked the execution of one of the eight inmates Arkansas was planning to put to death this month, but said at least five of them could go forward even though he found that the state broke some rules and policies.
U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. ruled for Jason McGehee, 40, a day after the Arkansas Parole Board recommended Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson grant McGehee clemency. Marshall said the state must allow for a 30-day comment period that will last until after a key execution drug expires on April 30.
The judge said he might also rule for inmate Jack Jones if the Parole Board approves his clemency petition Friday. Marshall said that in the case of five other inmates, no violation tipped the scales of justice. He refused to halt their executions.
The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by some of the inmates that challenges Hutchinson’s decision to conduct four double-executions this month. The inmates argue the unprecedented execution schedule infringes on their right to complete hearings on clemency requests.
The first double execution is set for April 17. Only Texas has executed that many inmates in a month, doing it twice in 1997. Seven executions in a month would still be a record for Arkansas.
Prosecutors say McGehee, who had just turned 20, directed the 1996 fatal assault of Johnny Melbourne Jr., a 15-year-old who had told police about a northern Arkansas theft ring.
In voting 6-1 in favor of McGehee’s clemency request, the Parole Board considered letters and testimony from the judge from McGehee’s trial, a former Correction Department chief, members of McGehee’s family and the victim’s father.
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