VARNER, Ark., Aug. 2 -- Lawyers worked Tuesday to halt the execution of three convicted murderers for the 1981 slaying of a Rogers businessman who was beaten and shot in front of his family in their home. The executions by lethal injection, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. CDT Wednesday, mark the first time in 32 years the death penalty was scheduled to be carried out on three prisoners at once in the United States. Hoyt Franklin Clines, 37, James William Holmes, 37, and Darryl V. Richley, 43, have been moved to death watch cells 30 feet from the death chamber in the Cummins Prison Unit where they were allowed to see visitors Tuesday. Mark Cambiano, a lawyer for the condemned men, said he would continue trying to halt the triple execution because of alleged trial errors and because he said the mass execution method used by Arkansas is inhumane. 'Arkansas is the only state that carries out mass executions,' he said. Richley asked Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun Tuesday to block his execution. Applications from the other two inmates are expected to reach the high court on Wednesday. Richley's applications said a prosecutor failed to provide vital information by not disclosing that a trial witness had been hypnotized, and a group execution violates his right to Supreme Court-mandated 'individualized, discretionary sentencing procedures.' Blackmun is the court's strongest death penalty opponent but is retiring this summer to be replaced by Stephen Breyer. Blackmun can grant the request for a stay, deny it or refer it to the full Supreme Court.
The appeals of the men have reached the federal appeals court twice and the Supreme Court twice during the past 13 years. In May, Arkansas executed Edward Charles Pickens and Jonas Whitmore for separate crimes, the first double execution in the nation since 1965. Arkansas has recorded eight double executions since 1939. The state held quadruple executions in 1926 and 1930. The state's last triple execution was in 1939. Alan Ables, a prison spokesman, said combining executions reduces stress on prison employees and saves money for the state. He said officials also feel it is appropriate because the men were convicted of the same crime. The nation's last triple execution was in California in 1962. Clines, Holmes, and Richley and a fourth man, Ray Orndorff, were convicted in the murder of businessman Donald Lehman in his Rogers, Ark. , home. Four armed men wearing ski masks burst through the front door of Lehman's home, whipped him with a motorcycle chain and shot him several times in the chest as his family watched. Lehman's daughter was able to give police a description of Clines because his ski mask slipped, which led to the arrests of the four men. Orndorff's death sentence was reduced to life in prison without parole after an appeals court ruled that testimony in the trial was significantly different about his role in the crime. The Lehman family is ready for the ordeal to end. 'We are ready for justice to be served so that we can free ourselves from the past as much as possible,' said Donald Lehman, one of the victim's two brothers.
