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.
Oops that does not look right. I should have said they were executed by hanging.
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.
This.
I actually think this is the most humane and ironically most similar to biblical stoning. Consider the bullets to be small stones
Were I subject to the death penalty this is what I’d want.
no lead bullets allowed
It depends on point of bullet entry.
There have been problems lately with lethal injections, some company in Europe stopped making one of the drugs and the replacement drug is no good.
I’ve always thought lethal injection was stupid. It’s supposed to be “humane”? Pfft. I love especially how they swab the arm with alcohol first, would want the soon to be dead guy to get an infection. :d
I say just hang em, or shoot em, or (and this is a great idea) don’t actively kill them, just don’t give them any food.
only if we can charge the culprits family for the ammo
That’s what gibbets are for
“I say just hang em, or shoot em, or (and this is a great idea) don’t actively kill them, just don’t give them any food.”
Love it!
Then trade the carcasses in for “carbon credits”.
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