on friday, state judge wendell griffen issued a temporary restraining order halting the executions overoncerns the state used false pretenses to , one of a drug cocktail of drugs slated to be used in the execution. the following day, federal judge kristine baker also temporarily blocked the state's execution plans from proceeding over concerns about another one of the execution drug, the sedative midazolam, which has been linked to painful, botched executions and other states. supreme court justice sonia sotomayor has described the drug's as "the chemical equivalent of being burned at the stake." ararkansas is appealing g the ruling's. amy: if arkansas prevails, in the slated to begin executions today. execute, they plan to eight this month in its rush to carry big executions before the state supply of midazolam expires. no state has ever sent as many prisoners to death chamber in such a short time. on good friday, hundreds of death penalty opponents rallied at the state capital and called on a side just sent to stop the executions. this is actor johnny depp. seize,le suffer and they 15

arkansas has faced growing protests over its execution plans, including from state judge wendell griffen, who lay on a cot for over an hour outside the governor's mansion during a protest on good friday. he has since been barred from taking debt anti-related cases. -- death penalty related cases. to see our full interviews about arkansas's unprecedented execution attempts, go to democracynow.org. meanwhile, in louisiana, rodricus crawford has become the 158th person exonerated from death row in the u.s. since 1973. crawford was wrongly convicted of murdering his son, despite evidence the 1-year-old child died of pneumonia and sepsis. the california judge was verbally attacked by president trump jenna campaign trail has been assigned to hear the case of 23-year-old deported dreamer juan manuel montes, who has sued the trump administration for deporting him to mexico even though he had legal permission to live and work in the united states through 2018 under president obama's deferred action for childhood arrivals program, known as daca. u.s. district judge gonzalo curiel has presided over

. >> reporter: protesters gathered asking for mercy including state judge wendell griffen later rulingo block one of the drugs halting all planned executions. arkansas's attorney general promising to file an emergency request to overturn the order. in a separate decision, the arkansas supreme court granted bruce ward the first of seven men scheduled to be executed over 11 days a stay of execution. for the damian, they are more than death row inmates. he spent 18 years on death row, one of the west memphis three convicted of killing three boys in 1993 in what prosecutors at the same described as a raitual before dna evidence showed they didn't do it. >> i'm proud to be here and proud to stand in absolute solidarity. >> reporter: the arkansas governor scheduled the seven executions together so they could be carried out before a key lethal injection drug expires at the end of the month. both sides await more possible last-minute developments. jacob rascon, nbc news, little rock, arkansas. >>> chaos and fear for commuters during friday's busy rush hour in new york city. a power failure lef