Arkansas Puts Two Murderers to Death

A drifter convicted of killing a woman who fed him milk and cookies was executed Wednesday, as was a man who ignored a plea for mercy during an armed robbery.

Jonas Whitmore was pronounced dead at 8:08 p.m., a prison spokesman said. Edward Charles Pickens died from a lethal injection exactly an hour later.

It was the first time a state executed two people on the same day since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to restore the death penalty in 1976.