January 24, 1992

Rickey (or Ricky) Ray Rector became the third death row inmate to be executed in Arkansas after the reinstatement of capital punishment in the state in 1990. Rector had killed one man and wounded another at a Conway (Faulkner County) restaurant and killed a Conway police officer two days later. After he killed the police officer, he shot himself in the head. The bullet entered his brain, and efforts by surgeons to remove the bullet resulted in a lobotomy. Rector was permanently brain damaged. Rector was executed despite concerns over his ability to understand the difference between life and death or the consequences of his actions.