Idaho plans to bring back firing squad as ‘preferred method of execution’

An American state has made global headlines after launching plans to bring back a particularly violent execution method.

Idaho is bringing back the firing squad.

Lethal injection has been the legally specified method. But shortages of the necessary drugs and controversy surrounding their effectiveness have prompted the introduction of a new bill to the American state’s parliament.

If passed, it will become the only state in the Union to designate firing squads as its preferred method of execution.

And it’s a method not used in the US for more than a decade.

“This bill is not about whether the death penalty is good or bad,” Idaho Republican Representative Bruce Skaug stated.

“Our job is to carry it out in the most efficient manner under the bounds of our constitutional requirements.”

Idaho authorities were forced to halt the execution of 74-year-old serial killer Thomas Creech in February last year. Those tasked with carrying out his execution had been unable to find a suitable vein for an intravenous line to be inserted.

He had been sentenced to death for five murders, but claims to have killed 26 people.

A second attempt in November was put on ice after a federal judge granted time to consider whether or not the basis for a new appeal had merit.

Authorities were forced to halt the execution of 74-year-old serial killer Thomas Creech. Picture: Supplied

Idaho also delayed the execution of convicted violent rapist and murderer Gerald Pizzuto. Picture: Supplied

But the availability of the drug needed to carry out the sentence has also been an ongoing issue.

Idaho has been forced to delay the execution of convicted violent rapist and murderer Gerald Pizzuto after failing to obtain the drug in 2022.

“Going forward, we hope the state will stop pursuing death warrants before Idaho Correction officials know whether they can carry out executions,” Pizzuto’s lawyer, Deborah Czuba, said at the time.

Idaho’s Republicans agree.

Skaug told the Idaho Statesman news service his firing-squad bill was about offering “dignity for all”.

“It is retribution, for the families that lost someone to murder and the person that died from murder,” he said, adding that Idaho judges are required to weigh retribution as part of their sentencing process.

Problems surrounding the lethal injection method prompted Idaho Governor Brad Little to authorise the backup option of firing squads in March 2023. But a lack of suitable facilities has prevented this from being enacted.

About $A1.2 million has since been committed to remodelling the state’s existing execution chamber as a bulletproof facility. Work isn’t expected to be completed before 2026.

“It is the responsibility of the State of Idaho to follow the law and ensure that lawful criminal sentences are carried out,” Governor Little said.

On Wednesday, Representative Skaug introduced the bill to Idaho’s House Judiciary and Rules Committee. It turns the legal tables by stipulating lethal drugs must only be used if a firing squad is “unavailable”.

Lethal drugs must only be used if a firing squad is “unavailable”. Picture: Amnesty International

“I see this bill as being less problematic with appeals in the courts,” Skaug said.

“Essentially, if you don’t have the bullets, then you go to the pentobarbital.”

The committee unanimously voted to advance the bill to its public hearing phase.

Idaho had been using the drug pentobarbital for lethal injections. And despite fears of a shortage, the Department of Correction never ran out. Its most recent supply was purchased in October.

But reliability of supply is a serious concern for all US states using the lethal drug for executions.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have been refusing to sell pentobarbital for that purpose. They state the drug was researched and developed to save lives – not take them.

And the effectiveness of lethal injection as a humane method of execution has also been called into question.

The effectiveness of lethal injection as a humane method of execution has also been called into question. Picture: iStock

A study into 8776 executions between 1890 and 2010 found that more than 7 per cent of all lethal injections reportedly went wrong. This compares with 3 per cent for hangings and 2 per cent for electrocutions.

None of the 34 firing squad executions, however, were reported to have been botched.

A recent Department of Justice report ruled that “significant uncertainty” remains about whether lethal injection causes unnecessary pain and suffering. And that’s a breach of the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Those states that still apply the death penalty must now seek alternatives.

Some are rewiring their old electric chairs. And Alabama has turned to filling gas chambers with nitrogen.

A study into 8776 executions between 1890 and 2010 found that more than 7 per cent of all lethal injections reportedly went wrong. Picture: Paul Buck/AFP

While Idaho is the first state to return to designating firing squads as its first choice, it’s the fifth to make them available as a backup option – along with Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah and South Carolina.

Idaho’s death row currently consists of eight men and one woman. The last execution, however, took place in 2012. And that was just the fourth since 1976.

The last person to be executed by firing squad in the US was Utah prisoner Ronnie Lee Gardner, in 2010. He had been sentenced for killing an lawyer during an attempted escape while in court.

Gardner was tied to a chair, surrounded by sandbags and had a target pinned over his heart. Five volunteer prison officers were given .30-caliber rifles to fire a single shot from an eight-meter distance. One rifle was randomly loaded with a blank cartridge.

Utah is the only state to have used firing squads in the past 50 years, according to the US Death Penalty Information Centre.

Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @jamieseidel.bsky.social