State Prepares for Double Execution

Varner - Two convicted killers are a little over 24-hours away from paying the ultimate price for their crimes.

44-year-old Charles Singleton and 35-year-old Karl Roberts are scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday night.

Both inmates were moved into their quiet cells Sunday night, which are about 30 feet from the door to the execution chamber. It is only a matter of time before they face their scheduled execution.

Prison officials say the mood at Cummins Prison is somber as two convicted killers prepare for their fate. "The closer we get, I think the deeper the mood gets and by the time of the execution, I think staff are probably about as tense as they can be."

Charles Singleton is Arkansas' longest-serving death row inmate. He is scheduled to be executed at 8pm Tuesday night for the 1979 murder of Hamburg grocer Mary Lou York.

As soon as Singleton's execution is over, prison officials will begin the execution of Karl Roberts. He was convicted of the 1999 kidnapping, rape and murder of his 12-year-old niece Andria Brewer. The girl's body was found in Polk County two days after she disappeared from a relative's home.

Prison officials say they are about as tense as it gets. There hasn't been a multiple execution since 1999. "For the staff, it is a very sobering time. The death penalty is so difficult to hand down by a jury and it's equally difficult if not more so to be carried out."

The inmates chose their last meals, which included fruits and vegetables and no meat.

My fiance is at Cummins. He told me about this today. It makes me feel very sad. Even though these men did commit terrible crimes, they don't deserved to be murdered in return. As I write this, they are being executed or have already been executed. My heart goes out to their families and loved ones. And about Charles Singleton, that just makes me mad that he is now being murdered for something he did in 1979.

Karl Roberts got a stay of execution.