Judge blocks execution of 1 of 8 Arkansas inmates

Jason McGehee (AP)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A federal judge has blocked the execution of one of the eight inmates Arkansas was planning to put to death this month.

U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. issued the decision Thursday in the case of Jason McGehee. The Arkansas Parole Board a day earlier had recommended that Gov. Asa Hutchinson grant mercy to McGehee.

With a key lethal injection drug expiring at the end of the month, the Arkansas Department of Correction hopes to execute eight men in a 10-day period beginning April 17.