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ARKANSAS (USA): JUDGE BLOCKS EXECUTION OF JASON MCGEHEE
April 6, 2017: Judge blocks execution of 1 of 8 inmates set to die in Arkansas arguing that the hasty schedule doesn’t give the governor enough time to consider granting the inmate clemency. U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall ruled that the planned April 27 execution of Jason McGehee — who was convicted in the 1996 murder of a teenage boy — should be put on hold for at least 30 days.
On Wednesday, the Arkansas Parole Board recommended clemency for McGehee, who was a 20-year-old gang leader when he directed his members to torture and kill 15-year-old John Melbourne Jr.
The board said that, in his 19 years on death row, McGehee has been a model inmate, and pointed to the fact that his co- co-defendants, Christopher Epps and Benjamin McFarland, did not receive death sentences as justification for the clemency decision.
McGehee's two co-defendants took plea deals and received lesser sentences. Epps was remanded to life in prison; McFarland was ordered to serve 40 years.
In his ruling on Thursday, Marshall said the state could not execute McGehee on his scheduled date of April 27 because Arkansas law requires that the parole board be given a 30-day period to notify the governor of a clemency recommendation.
Hutchinson's schedule would have prevented the parole board from complying with state law. Marshall's decision means McGehee cannot be executed until after the state's supply of midazolam, the first drug administered in lethal injection protocol, expires. It is unclear if or when McGehee's execution will be rescheduled. Hutchinson must ultimately decide on whether to grant clemency. (Source: CNN, 06/04/2017)
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