Firing squad? Really?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37759499/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

I thought that only existed in those Faces of Death movies? Good choice, Ronnie Lee Gardner. Jesus.

 

Utah got rid of that for persons convicted after 2004.

Even so, it was always the condemned person's choice of the method of execution.

 

I'd almost prefer it, were I facing the choice. Sure, it's a little messier, but if you're getting hit square in the chest with four high-caliber bullets, you're gonna go pretty quickly. Beats the hell out of hearing the syringe plunge down with the anesthetic as you sweat on the table.

I did see a prison official quoted as saying that a previous guy who took the firing squad (not this guy) said he did so because he wanted someone to have to clean up the mess.

 

Maybe it's just me, but a firing squad death would be horrifying. I'd rather be laid out on a table getting a couple IVs than being strapped to a chair with five shotguns pointed at you. Are they gonna shoot NOW? What about NOW? No? How bout NOW? Christ. That'd be terrible.

 

I think knowing your death is being hastened, regardless of method, to me would be horrifying. I could see one believing that there is more dignity in being shot standing up than being strapped to a gurney and put down like a dog. Well, at least how we used to put dogs down.

 

I hate needles to begin with. I'd rather be shot than injected with poison in a tiny room where you may need multiple syringes. In the end, however, I'm just glad I'll never have to choose whether to be shot to death or pumped with deadly chemicals.

 

If you've done something to warrant your execution, it shouldn't be a soft experience of going to sleep.

But like CR19, I don't plan on having to worry about it.

 

My only argument against it is because of the guilt that could be carried around by the guys who have to fire the rifles. I know they only load four of the five rifles with live ammo, but I'm guessing experienced Marksmen know when they fire a live round.

 

Oh great, an I-story by the AP.

 

The way I see it, if you've been convicted of a crime heinous enough under our laws to merit capital punishment, why do you deserve to be put out of your misery?

Wouldn't a worse punishment be for those prisoners to be thrown in dark, solitary confinement (a la Tim Robbins in Shawshank Redemption) for the rest of their lives? Imagine that - spending 40 years or whatever in isolation, knowing you'd never see the light of day again.

As it was, this asshole waited 25 years in prison before being executed.