Skip to main content

Reply to "Alabama is latest state to approve execution by nitrogen gas"

Firing squads would have worked out well. Too bad they were stopped, maybe other states should consider it.

*******************

The first bill proposing to eliminate the firing squad option was introduced in the Utah House of Representatives in January 1996.[4] In 2004, the legislature passed HB180, which removed the right of the condemned to choose the method of execution and left lethal injection as the only remaining option in the state.[5][6] The abolition of the firing squad was not retroactive; three inmates on death row at Utah State Prison who chose this method of execution before the end of February 2004 will be executed by firing squad under a grandfather clause.[6]Utah's most recent execution, that of 49-year-old Ronnie Lee Gardner on June 18, 2010, was the state's third execution by firing squad since the capital punishment moratorium was lifted, and the country's first sanctioned shooting in 14 years.[5] Legislation signed by Gov. Gary Herbert in March 2015 restores the firing squad as a legal method of execution, requiring its use if the state is unable to obtain the necessary lethal injection drugs within 30 days of a scheduled execution.[7][8]

Utah is the only state besides Nevada to have ever used the firing squad. Oklahoma is the only other state currently allowing firing squads, and solely in the event that lethal injectionnitrogen hypoxia and electrocution are all declared unconstitutional.

Executions in Utah are currently performed at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah.[9] Because the ethics standards of the American Medical Association forbid physician involvement in executions, other healthcare professionals including paramedics and nurses perform executions in Utah.[10] Paramedics and nurses, however, are also forbidden from participation in executions by their own professional organizations' ethics codes.[11][12][13] The prison protects the anonymity of professionals involved in executions, making it impossible for professional organizations to impose sanctions.[14]


Untitled Document
×
×
×
×