Arkansas executes murderers Jack Jones and Marcel Williams

The state of Arkansas has executed two prisoners on death row after the US Supreme Court rejected their last-minute appeals.

It is the first double execution on the same day in the US for 17 years.

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

Arkansas initially planned to execute eight inmates in 11 days because its supply of a drug used in lethal injections expires in late April.

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

Attorneys for Jones had said he could suffer from a “torturous death” because he may be resistant to the drug, midazolam.

Lawyers for Williams say it may be difficult to find a vein on their client for the lethal injection because he weighs 400lb (180kg).

Jones was convicted in 1996 of raping and strangling Mary Phillips and attempting to murder her 11-year-old daughter.

He was also convicted of rape and murder in Florida.

Williams was sentenced to death in 1997 for kidnapping, raping and murdering Stacy Errickson.

He also abducted and raped two other women.

Arkansas Supreme Court last week threw out the manufacturer’s lawsuit, which had argued that the state did not make clear it wished to use the supplies for executions. BBC News