Two Texas inmates set to die on same night [View All]

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http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D89H7ASO0.html

The nation's busiest death chamber could be administering a double dose of lethal drugs on Wednesday with two condemned killers set to die then.

The double execution is unusual but not unprecedented for Texas, where 340 prisoners have been put to death since 1982 when the state resumed carrying out the death penalty after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted its prohibition.

Most recently, two prisoners were executed on Aug. 9, 2000. They were among a record 40 prisoners put to death in the state that year. Two executions on the same day also were carried out in 1995 and 1997.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Mike Viesca said a few extra staff and an additional chaplain would be at the Walls Unit in downtown Huntsville, where executions are carried out, to accommodate the second prisoner.