VARNER, Ark. — Two Arkansas inmates scheduled for back-to-back lethal injections next month asked the parole board Friday to spare their lives, a long-shot bid as the state prepares for an unprecedented four nights of double executions over a 10-day period.

While Texas has executed eight people in a month — twice in 1997 — no state has executed that many prisoners in 10 days.

Stacey Johnson and a lawyer for Ledell Lee asked board members to recommend that Governor Asa Hutchinson commute their sentences. Such efforts typically fail. The board is scheduled to deliberate Friday afternoon in Little Rock after hearing from relatives of the men’s victims.

Of the 27 people executed in Arkansas since 1990, 20 had clemency requests rejected. Governor Mike Huckabee commuted one man’s sentence on his own after a reluctant juror stepped forward.

Johnson and Lee are set to die April 20. Other double executions are set for April 17, 24, and 27.

A key execution drug, the controversial sedative midazolam, expires three days after Kenneth Williams is set to go to the death chamber. Arkansas has had trouble obtaining the three lethal drugs it needs to put the men to death.

Friday’s hearings were the first of five set over the coming week.

Associated Press