bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

A United States lawmaker has called for executions to be carried out by firing squad after the botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last month.
Republican Paul Ray believes firing squads are a more humane option and wants them brought back for criminals sentenced to death in his home state of Utah.
He plans to introduce his proposal during Utah's next legislative session in January.
Lawmakers in Wyoming and Missouri floated similar ideas this year, but both efforts stalled. Utah already has a tradition of execution by firing squad.
Five police officers using .30 calibre Winchester rifles executed Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010 - the last execution by rifle to be held in the state.
Ray argues the controversial method may seem more palatable now, especially as states struggle to deal with lawsuits and drug shortages that have complicated lethal injections.
"It sounds like the Wild West, but it's probably the most humane way to kill somebody," Ray said. Utah eliminated execution by firing squad in 2004, citing the excessive media attention it gave inmates.
But those sentenced to death before that date still had the option of choosing it, which is how Gardner ended up standing in front of five armed Utah police officers.
He was sentenced to death for fatally shooting a Salt Lake City attorney in 1985 while trying to escape from court.
Gardner was the third person to die by firing squad after the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Lethal injection, the default method of execution in the US, has received heightened scrutiny after drug shortages in recent years and the April incident in Oklahoma, when inmate Clayton Lockett's vein collapsed and he died of a heart attack more than 40 minutes later.
Ray and lawmakers in other states have suggested firing squads might be the cheapest and most humane method of execution.
"The prisoner dies instantly," Ray said. "It sounds draconian. It sounds really bad, but the minute the bullet hits your heart, you're dead. There's no suffering."


US lawmaker calls for return of executions by firing squad

Ray argues the controversial method may seem more palatable now.

News

World

A United States lawmaker has called for executions to be carried out by firing squad after the botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last month.


US lawmaker calls for return of executions by firing squad

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A United States lawmaker has called for executions to be carried out by firing squad after the botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last month.

A United States lawmaker has called for executions to be carried out by firing squad after the botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last month.