Posted on 02/10/2017 1:42:41 PM PST by nickcarraway
Oklahoma one of only two states that still allows inmate death by firing squad, another state seeks to be the 3rd
Oklahoma is one of 33 states that supports the death penalty, all of which favor lethal injection for inmates sentenced to die.
However, many states also have an alternative method of death in case a court intervenes with lethal injection.
In 2015, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed legislation allowing nitrogen gas to be used if a court strikes down lethal injection or if the drugs are unavailable.
That move came after Oklahoma was catapulted into the national spotlight for the 2014 execution of Clayton Lockett, whose death lasted 43 minutes, and for the 2015 drug mix-ups in the executions of Charles Warner, who said he felt his body was on fire, and Richard Glossip in the same year.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Oklahoma also allows other methods of death, including the electric chair if lethal injection or nitrogen gas is deemed unconstitutional, while a firing squad may be used as a last resort.
However, in all of Oklahoma's 195 documented executions since 1915, not a single inmate was killed by firing squad.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections Communications Director Terri Watkins tells NewsChannel 4 that until 1966, 82 inmates were killed by electrocution.
After 1966, lethal injection was used to put 112 inmates to death. Only one Oklahoma inmate was killed by hanging.
Convicted kidnapper, Arthur Gooch, 26, was hanged in 1936 in McAlester in front of a crowd of 350 people during the state penitiary's first and last hanging.
According to the Tulsa World, the knot slipped, strangling Gooch for 15 minutes just an inch from the ground.
Hanging is no longer an option in Oklahoma, though Delaware, New Hampshire, and Washington still allow the method.
Oklahoma and Utah are currently the only two states that allow a firing squad as a means of execution.
Now, Mississippi lawmakers are looking to add that option as well.
After lawsuits against the state of Mississippi allege that lethal injection is inhumane, pro-death penalty legislators are pushing House Bill 638, which would allow firing squads, electrocution, and the gas chamber as alternate methods.
Amid opposition, the bill passed Mississippi's state House and now moves to the Senate.
The Associated Press reports that Mississippi has seen a shortage of lethal injection drugs since its last execution in 2012, yet 47 people sit on death row, many of which have been there for decades.
For a list compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center on how each state is allowed to execute a prisoner, click here.
The gallows should be the standard method. With reasonable care and a little rinsing, the rope can be reused numerous times.
States should just with hold food and water for the condemned. According to the left it was such a dignified way to die for Terry Schiavo.
Bullets are cheap.
I’d prefer public hanging, but the public is too squeamish for that.
Have them dig their grave, then shoot them into it.
If that’s cruel and unusual, someone else can dig the grave.
Fast and essentially painless
Post of the day! I love it!
The rope could be sold as souvenirs for a victim's benefit fund.
Gallows, firing squad, injection, sparky, guillotine, etc. The evil monster’s pick. Anything so the inmate can’t drag it through court again.
I’ve had it up to here getting pushed around by misfits and commies.
Or, if the carcass is that of a traitorous politician or judge, it can be left hanging until it rots off. That'll give time for Americans to parade by and spit (or whatever) on it.
Nitrogen gas or a firing squad (if I were forced to choose). Helium is also an alternative if you want leave on a high note.
Jerry - I wish there was a like button. You have the REAL Post of the Day!
States should just with hold food and water for the condemned. According to the left it was such a dignified way to die for Terry Schiavo.
Merle Haggard was right: “I’m proud to be an Okie . . ..”
We will even use steel bullets instead of lead if the eco/greens want us to.
It works every time. Some will say it’s too brutal. What they mean, is that they don’t like looking at it.
Thinking that injection is painless is an illusion. It is painless only for the onlookers, who fool themselves into thinking that the convict doesn’t suffer.
I’m against the death penalty because I don’t want the government to have the power to kill people openly, but if the death penalty is going to be applied, let it be by firing squad.
High Note? Good one there Ken!
I think if I had to choose my method of execution it would be firing squad.
I remember seeing film of German saboteurs executed during the Battle of the Bulge. It appeared they died instantly.
I remember the 1977 execution of Gary Gilmore...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gilmore
Perry Smith and Dick Hickock were both executed by firing squad in Kansas. That must have been right at the end of using hanging in the U.S.
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