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Shoot Me Now

By Steve Hall

That's the title of a news article posted at Slate by Margot Sanger-Katz.  It's subtitled, "Are firing squads a better means of execution than lethal injection?"  Here's an extended excerpt:According to the Utah Department of Corrections, Gardner will be strapped to a chair for his execution wearing a jumpsuit with a target pinned to his heart. After offering last words, his face will be hooded, and five pre-selected law enforcement officers will aim for that target with .30-caliber rifles from less than 25 feet away. As in traditional military firing squads, one of those shooters' guns will be loaded with blanks, to keep each one uncertain about whether he fired a fatal shot. In 1996, the last time Utah carried out a firing squad execution, prison officials used a chair with a mesh seat and placed a pan beneath the chair to capture the inmate's blood...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on June 16, 2010 (boomark / email).