www.wsj.com/articles/utah-lawmakers-pass-bill-allowing-firing-squads-for-executions-1426035376 QUOTE:
Utah Passes Bill Allowing Execution by Firing Squad
Legislation, if signed by governor, would allow the method if lethal-injection drugs can’t be obtainedMarch 11, 2015
Utah legislators approved a bill on Tuesday to allow firing squads for executions amid a national shortage of the drugs used to administer lethal injections.
The legislation, which passed the state Senate 18-10, would authorize the firing squad if the drugs couldn’t be obtained. The state currently has eight inmates on death row and no lethal-injection drugs.
Several other states, including Wyoming, Alabama and Oklahoma, have considered or are debating bringing back alternative means of execution because of concerns about the supply or performance of lethal-injection drugs.
The Utah bill, which cleared the state House of Representatives last month, now heads to Republican Gov. Gary Herbert. A spokesman for Mr. Herbert wouldn’t say whether the governor would sign the bill.
“This proposal would make sure that those instructed to carry out the lawful order of the court and the carefully deliberated decision of the jury can do so,” said the spokesman, Marty Carpenter.
Utah is the only state that allows the firing squad, but only for death-row inmates who previously had the right to choose the method before 2004, when it was eliminated as an option. The state last executed an inmate by firing squad in 2010.
Republican State Rep. Paul Ray, who sponsored the bill, said it was important to have a means of execution given how controversial and litigious lethal injections have become.
“It is never a great conversation when you talk about taking somebody’s life,” said Mr. Ray, following the bill’s passage late Tuesday. “But when you talk about lethal injection, it takes quite a bit longer (than the firing squad).”
State Sen. Jim Dabakis, a Democrat from Salt Lake City, who voted against the measure, said: “Certainly the means are very, very different. But the end is the same when you have somebody of authority with a gun shooting at somebody.”
Pharmaceutical companies stopped selling lethal-injection drugs to states in recent years, saying they were uncomfortable being linked to executions.
That, and a recent U.S. Supreme Court case by death-row inmates challenging the constitutionality of the mixture of drugs Oklahoma has used to administer injections, has spurred states to consider alternatives.
Legislation in Oklahoma that would allow nitrogen gas for executions if lethal injection drugs are deemed unconstitutional or can’t be obtained passed the House earlier this month. The bill will be taken up by the state Senate.
In Alabama, a bill that would bring back the electric chair also cleared a legislative committee last week and headed to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
A proposal that would have revived the firing squad in Wyoming effectively died last Friday, after the state’s legislative session ended before lawmakers could take final action on it.