The US is set to see through executions for five death row inmates in different states in a one-week span – the highest number in a decade.
Executions are a controversial issue in America and had declined in recent years.
The five that started with one on Friday in South Carolina and four more slated in Texas, Missouri, Alabama and Oklahoma, go against that trend.
‘Two on a single day is unusual, and four on two days in the same week is also very unusual,’ Robin Maher, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, told the Independent.
If the remaining four executions proceed, it will be the first time since July 2003 that five take place within seven days, according to the center.
‘I’m not aware of any reason other than coincidence,’ University of Nebraska law professor Eric Berger told the news outlet.
Here are the five executions within a week:
South Carolina: Freddie Owens
The first inmate to be executed was Freddie Owens, 46, in South Carolina. He received a lethal injection on Friday evening, despite a friend’s eleventh-hour admission that he lied in testimony to save his own life.
Owens’ friend stated that the death row inmate was not at a convenience store when clerk Irene Graves was killed. But the state Supreme Court refused to halt the execution and the governor did not grant clemency.
He said ‘bye’ just before the lethal injection was administered.
Owens was the inmate to receive a lethal injection in 13 years in the state.
Texas: Travis Mullis
Texas is set to execute Travis Mullis, 38, who was convicted of stomping his 3-month-old son Alijah dead more than 16 years ago.
Mullis in February stated he did not intend to challenge his case, after owning up to killing his son and saying that ‘his punishment fit the crime’.
He is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
Mullis would the fourth inmate to be executed in the state that is the busiest when it comes to capital punishment in America.
Missouri: Marcellus Williams
Missouri is set to administer a lethal injection to Marcellus Williams, 55, on Tuesday. He was convicted in the 1998 murder of Lisha Gayle, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch police reporter.
Williams has continued to insist he is innocent, arguing that his DNA was not found at the crime scene.
But the state supreme court and governor on Monday denied clemency to Williams.
Williams would be the third inmate to be executed this year in Missouri.
Alabama: Alan Miller
Alabama is slated to execute Alan Miller, 59, on Thursday after he received a reprieve two years ago as officials were not able to find a vein to connect an intravenous line.
Miller was convicted of shooting three people in a workplace rampage in 1999, including two coworkers and a former supervisor.
He is set to die via a mask placed on his face at William C Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore
Miller’s execution would be the first in the state using nitrogen gas and the second in the US.
Oklahoma: Emmanuel Littlejohn
Oklahoma is set to execute Emmanuel Littlejohn, 31, using a lethal injection on Thursday.
Littlejohn was convicted in the 1992 shooting during a robbery that left a convenience store owner dead.
He has claimed he did not shoot the storeowner. The state’s pardon and parole board recommended that the governor grant Littlejohn clemency, but no decision has been made.
Littlejohn would be the third inmate to be executed in Oklahoma this year.
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