Idaho lawmakers They move to consolidate the newly restored firing squad as the state's primary method of execution with eight inmates currently on death row and the looming capital murder trial of student murder suspect Brian Kohberger.
“I, along with many others, believe that the firing squad is more certain, has fewer problems on appeal, and is more humane than other forms of execution,” Idaho Rep. Bruce Skoog, who introduced the legislation, told Fox News Digital. “We had a failed attempt at lethal injection in Idaho last year.”
In March 2023, the state revived the firing squad as a backup option when lethal injection, a troubled and increasingly controversial method of execution, is no longer available.
IDAHO SERIAL KILELR survives lethal injection attempt, prompting renewed pressure on firing squad
Chair sits in the execution chamber at the Utah State Prison on June 18, 2010, after the execution by firing squad of Ronnie Lee Gardner in Draper, Utah. Idaho lawmakers passed a bill on March 20, 2023, that would allow the use of execution squads if the state is unable to obtain drugs needed for the lethal injection program. They are now looking to make it the state's primary method of execution. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool, File)
Then he was convicted last year Serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech survived his lethal injection, leading to renewed interest in the firing squad.
The new move would make the firing squad the state's primary means of administering the death penalty — at no additional cost to taxpayers, since funding for the execution chamber was included in the previous bill.
Meanwhile, Kohberger's defense has sought to overturn the death penalty and is challenging the arrest warrants and DNA evidence used in his arrest.
Two days of hearings on defense motions in the quadruple murder case against the University of Idaho student stabbing suspect ended without any formal decisions, but revealed new details ahead of his anticipated trial later this year. The judge is expected to issue his decisions within two weeks.
Brian Kohberger, accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November, looks at his attorney, public defender Ann Taylor, during a hearing in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho, on January 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Paul)
Deborah Deno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law and a leading expert on the death penalty in the United States, told Fox News Digital that the firing squad is accepted as the most efficient and humane means of execution.
She then said: “We have carried out three recent executions by firing squad, and they were carried out as intended, and the prisoner died quickly and with dignity.” Creech's botched execution. “So I think that's something that needs to be emphasized.”
Lethal injections have been plagued by mishaps, drug shortages, and failed attempts. Creech was the fourth person to survive a lathe execution in just the past few years.
Idaho Governor signs law allowing firing squad executions
The execution chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution is shown as security institution Superintendent Randy Blades looks on in Boise, Idaho, on October 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Jesse L. Bonner, File)
Dino has called for prisoners to be given a choice in the means of execution.
“I have a hunch that more prisoners will choose the firing squad,” she told Fox News Digital Tennessee prisoners They began choosing electrocution rather than lethal injection when given the choice.
Only four states have the option of execution by firing squad, although its use is extremely rare, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which also describes lethal injection as The “most corrupt” method of implementation..
Matt Mangino, a former Pennsylvania prosecutor who wrote a book about the death penalty called “The Executioner's Toll, 2010,” said he believes in the current political climate that Idaho's new bill will pass.
Idaho student suspect Brian Coberger could face death by shooting under proposed law if convicted
The chair to which John Albert Taylor was tied during his scheduled execution is shown at Unitas State Prison in Utah on January 24, 1996. Taylor chose to die by firing squad by five men rather than by lethal injection. (Lee Celano/Reuters)
He said lethal injections sound modern and even “clinical,” but they may be much more gruesome than they appear. One of the drugs in a typical injection cocktail is a paralytic meant to prevent convicts from squirming—for the comfort of witnesses, not themselves.
Madison Mugen smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kylie Goncalves, as she poses with Ethan Chapin, Zana Kernodle and two housemates in Goncalves' latest Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
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Idaho currently has eight inmates on death row, including Creech, and is preparing for a high-profile trial in the stabbing deaths of four college students. The suspect is Brian Kohberger, a 30-year-old former criminologist. Student, could face the death penalty if convicted.
Kohberger is scheduled to go on trial later this year in connection with the killings of Madison Muggin, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Zana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, also 20.
The firing squad bill is still in committee. A date for the public hearing and testimony has not yet been set, Skoog said.
