Arkansas executes fourth inmate in eight days

The US state of Arkansas has executed Kenneth Williams, the fourth inmate it has put to death in eight days.

Williams was executed by lethal injection on Thursday night at the Cummins Unit prison in Varner.

A prison spokesman said three minutes after the injection began, Williams shook for about 10 seconds before being pronounced dead at 11.05pm.

A reporter from Associated Press who witnessed the execution said Williams had been "lurching, convulsing, coughing and jerking”.

The 38-year-old was executed for the death of former deputy warden Cecil Boren, 57.

Williams had murdered Boren after escaping from prison in 1999.

He had stolen Boren's truck and, during a chase in southern Missouri the next day, he had crashed into another vehicle, killing the driver, 24-year-old Michael Greenwood.

At the time of his escape from jail, he had been less than three weeks into a life sentence for the death of college cheerleader Dominique Hurd.

After jurors had spared his life in Hurd's case, he turned to the girl's family and taunted them, saying: "You thought I was going to die, didn't you?”

In his final statement read from the death chamber, Williams said: "I extend my sincerest of apologies to the families I have senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones.

"I was more than wrong.

"The crimes I perpetrated against you all was senseless, extremely hurtful and inexcusable.”

One of Boren's daughters, Jodie Efird, who watched the execution, said: "Any kind of movement he had was far less than his victims."