Arkansas Governor Sets Dates for Inmates Executions for 1st Time in 10 Years

Asa Hutchinson has set dates for the execution of eight inmates after a ten-year pause.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has set dates for the execution of eight inmates in a move that will resume the carrying out of death penalty after a ten-year pause, the Governor’s office said in a press release on Wednesday.

"Today, pursuant to the Attorney General’s request, the Governor [Hutchinson] fulfilled his duty to set execution dates for eight Arkansas inmates whom Arkansas juries have convicted and sentenced to death," the press release read.

Two executions are scheduled to take place once a month starting on October 21. The last two of the eight inmates will be executed on January 14, 2016, according to the press release.

The death penalty has not been carried out in Arkansas since 2005 because of legal cases challenging the existing law on using lethal injections as well as the lack of drugs to prepare the lethal injection cocktail, according to media reports.

On September 1, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sent a letter to Hutchinson urging him to set execution dates for death row inmates as the legal appeals have been exhausted and local facilities have enough of the drugs to carry out the verdicts.