I heard the opposite. Only one rifle has a blank. That makes more sense. With only one live round, the prisoner might only be wounded if the shooter was having an off day.
Wouldn’t lack of recoil be a tipoff to the rifle(s) that had the blanks?
So the 5 idiots on the firing line shoot the criminal in half? Why not just feeding him into wood chipper? I don’t think this is just a walk up and shoot the sob event. I may be wrong but 5 rounds from a rifle gonna get messy. I shoot things and I know. Bullets damage meat.