Utah's Firing Squad Execution Revival Leaves Beehive State Unique in Capital Punishment Method
Utah approved death by firing squad in the absence of lethal drugs on Monday, drawing criticism from human rights activist.
Death by firing squad was offered to the inmates on death row before 2004, when the option was done away with. It approval this time was done citing increasing shortage of lethal injections as manufacturer are unwilling to sell them given moral obligations.
The last inmate killed by a squad was Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. He was convicted before 2004. Gardener's brother described the state's latest move as inhuman.
"My God, we're the only ones that are shooting people in the heart," Randy Gardner reportedly said.
The firing squad is to be used only if lethal injections are not available. The state's Republican governor Gary Herbert admitted that dying by the bullet sounded a 'little bit gruesome'.
On the appointed day, the inmate is seated on a chair amidst sand bags and backed by a wooden panel. Five police officers, whose identities are not revealed, aim at the heart with 0.30 caliber Winchester rifles, to ensure a quick death. Before the firing, inmates are given two minutes for final words. In the last four decades, three inmates were executed by firing squads.
Ron Lafferty, convicted for murder of his sister-in-law and her daughter in 1984, is likely to be next inmate who will face the squad in Utah, Yahoo News reports.
