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Life and Death Row

The Mass Execution

Episode 1

Duration: 58 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Two HDLatest broadcast: on BBC Three HD

Available for 17 days

A documentary series about the historic number of executions scheduled in Arkansas, USA, of eight men in ten days. The Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, has scheduled eight men to be put to death within ten days of each other. The reason for the unprecedented timetable is to use up the state's supply of a lethal injection drug called midazolam before it expires. With access to the families of victims, and of those on death row, this series follows the eight cases from both sides, in the weeks, days, hours and minutes leading up to each scheduled execution. From inside the prison walls, we also hear from the inmates themselves as they reflect on their crimes, plead for their lives and get ready to be part of the most condensed spate of death sentences in recent American history.

In this episode we meet death row inmate Stacey Johnson, who is scheduled to be executed for a crime that he claims he didn't commit. With just weeks to go, his wife Judy and stepdaughter Tasha are doing all they can to stop the execution from going ahead. We also meet Susan, whose mother was murdered in a home invasion by inmate Don Davis in 1990. Susan has been waiting for Davis's execution for decades and wants justice to finally be carried out so she and her family can find peace. Show less

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