Utah to execute two men by firing squad

[Guest I'm That Damn Zzzzz]

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0503/...iringsquad.html

Utah prepares for 2 firing-squad executions in June

 

The Associated Press

 

 

SALT LAKE CITY -- The only state that dispatches condemned inmates by firing squad is assembling gunmen for back-to-back executions next month.

 

The nation's last execution by firing squad was in 1996.

 

Exercising their right under Utah law, serial killer Roberto Arguelles and Troy Michael Kell, a white supremacist who stabbed a fellow inmate to death, have chosen the firing squad over lethal injection and are set to die at 12:01 a.m. on June 27 and 28, respectively.

 

However, Kell filed an appeal last week that will probably halt his execution.

 

Of the 850 inmates put to death in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, two have died by firing squad, both in Utah: Gary Gilmore in 1977 became the first person executed in the United States after the court's ruling, and John Albert Taylor was put to death 19 years later.

 

Since 1977, Utah has executed four other killers, all by injection.

 

Anti-death penalty forces are protesting, arguing that the firing squad amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. And the prison is bracing for large crowds of protesters.

 

Utah's use of firing squads predates statehood in 1896 and is a remnant of the early Mormon belief that bloodshed is a required punishment for taking a life, said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which says it is neutral about the death penalty but critical of its application.

 

"Certainly no other state has continued its use or allowed people to choose it. It's the one thing that stands out," Dieter said. "It's part of the history, so there's a reluctance to change."

 

The notion that murder must be atoned for in blood has never been part of official church doctrine, and the Mormon church has not taken a formal position on execution methods, said Robert Millet, Brigham Young University religion professor.

 

The Utah Corrections Department is recruiting law enforcement officers for two five-person firing squads, asking the police departments in the communities where the crimes were committed to nominate volunteers.

 

The officers' identities will not be released, and participants will be barred from talking publicly about the experience.

 

A hood will be put over the condemned man's head and a target will be pinned over his heart. The executioners will fire simultaneously from gun portals in a separate room at the inmate, seated in a chair about 30 feet away.

 

One of the five rifles will contain a blank so that no one will know who fired the fatal shots.

 

In 1992, Arguelles abducted and strangled Margo Bond, a janitor at a junior high school where he had been hunting for teenage victims. He also kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed two girls, ages 13 and 15, and stabbed a 16-year-old girl more than 40 times. He was sentenced to death in 1997. Arguelles has repeatedly said he wants to die.

 

Kell was convicted in 1996 of killing a black man, Lonnie Blackmon, at the Utah State Prison. Kell, serving time for a previous murder, stabbed Blackmon 67 times with a homemade knife in 1994. A prison videotape shows Kell shouting, "White power!" during the attack.

 

Utah has 11 men on death row. Besides Arguelles and Kell, two other inmates have chosen to die by firing squad.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

How is this cruel or unusual? It's a bullet. Nothing fancy there. It's quick, and it's simple.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Absolutely. Lethal injections, electrocution, and gas chambers are the really cruel and inhumane executions. We should bring back the firing squad, the guillotine, and the hangman.

[Guest Ripper]

I saw the video of the guy that stabbed the other prisoner. He is lucky he doesn't get death by stabbing...because that is what he deserves.

[Guest El Satanico]

How are lethal injections inhumane, but hangings are humane...

[Guest Spicy McHaggis]

How about wtf is the difference?!

 

You're dead either way.

[Guest The Metal Maniac]

I love when people bring up "cruel and unusual" punishment in these cases.

 

Yeah, it's cruel to shoot someone. It's also cruel to stick a needle in their arm that'll kill them. And it sure as hell is unusual - most people don't get shot by firing squads. You can't execute someone without being cruel or unusual, I'd say.

 

And yes, I do understand the original intent of "cruel and unusual", but what I'm saying is, there are times when you kinda have to be at least somewhat cruel and/or unusual, or nothing would get done. They're just not defined anywhere NEAR well enough.

 

And hey, if that's how they want to be killed, well then that's how they want to be killed. And considering that they'll be shot by trained officers, I have a feeling that their aim will be good enough to ensure a quick death, which is probably more then they deserve anyway.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

How are lethal injections inhumane, but hangings are humane...

Lethal injections can go wrong much more easily, as can electrocution. Hanging someone is pretty much an exact science.

[Guest Flyboy]

How are lethal injections inhumane, but hangings are humane...

Lethal injections can go wrong much more easily, as can electrocution. Hanging someone is pretty much an exact science.

On the contary, anything can go wrong at anytime in something. The chances of something going wrong in a lethal injection/execution are higher than a hanging, but the chance is still there.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

While the firing squad is a nice old-school way of execution, I have but one thing to say: BRING BACK THE GALLOWS!!!

[Guest Cancer Marney]

On the contary, anything can go wrong at anytime in something. The chances of something going wrong in a lethal injection/execution are higher than a hanging, but the chance is still there.

Of course there's always the possibility of error, but hanging is, as I said and you reiterated, MUCH more reliable.

[Guest Spicy McHaggis]

I like the classic tying each limb with a rope to a horse and sending all 4 horses in opposite directions.

[Guest Ripper]

I would have no problem with everyone on the firing squad "accidentally" knee-capping both their asses and saying "Oh, my fault...lets try that again."

[Guest Spicy McHaggis]

didn't there used to be a rule that said if the firing squad didn't kill you, you could go free?

[Guest godthedog]

How are lethal injections inhumane, but hangings are humane...

Lethal injections can go wrong much more easily, as can electrocution. Hanging someone is pretty much an exact science.

On the contary, anything can go wrong at anytime in something. The chances of something going wrong in a lethal injection/execution are higher than a hanging, but the chance is still there.

you should hear some of the better-known horror stories about electrocution & lethal injection gone wrong: botched executions

 

i myself would choose hanging over anything else. then probably firing squad, then maybe lethal injection.

Edited May 23, 2003 by godthedog

[Guest Cover of Darkness]

Absolutely. Lethal injections, electrocution, and gas chambers are the really cruel and inhumane executions. We should bring back the firing squad, the guillotine, and the hangman.

Hanging is only humane if the neck breaks. To be slowly strangled by the rope is a horrible way to go.

[Guest Cover of Darkness]

didn't there used to be a rule that said if the firing squad didn't kill you, you could go free?

No.

 

 

There was a rule-of-thumb that if on your hanging went wrong due to mechanical failure or the rope breaking three times, then God was telling everyone that you were innocent and you were free.

 

There are reports of this happening in the Old West several times.

 

 

Tuco Benedito Juan Maria Rameirez (Also known as The Rat) advocates the return of hanging, I hear.

Edited May 23, 2003 by Cover of Darkness

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Hanging is only humane if the neck breaks. To be slowly strangled by the rope is a horrible way to go.

Well, like duh. But it was pretty well perfected in the late 1800s, and I really doubt we'd get more than 1% of the modern fuckup rate.

Anyway, I think hanging should be reserved for traitors and other particularly abhorrent criminals. Firing squads and the guillotine are good enough for everyone else.

[Guest MrRant]

I guarantee you that if you shot someone out of a highspeed catapult (say... 50mph) into a brick wall ( George Carlin )there would be no chance of him surviving.

 

And its quick.

[Guest Cover of Darkness]

Hanging is only humane if the neck breaks. To be slowly strangled by the rope is a horrible way to go.

Well, like duh.

Like, WHATEVER!

 

[Guest Cancer Marney]

That too. <g>

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

I was wondering when they'd actually do it again. I'd known about them being a mode of execution there for a while now, but I never thought they'd do it, to be honest. I heartily endorse this mode of execution.

[Guest EricMM]

I mean guillotine-ing (?) someone is sure quick, but I mean, it's just the public spectacle of it all. If it were a TAD more private maybe.

[Guest Cover of Darkness]

Gladiator bouts?

[Guest MrRant]

I say cover them with hamburger gravy and stick them in a room with wolverines who haven't eaten in a week.

 

At the very least they are walking out of there with no balls.

[Guest alkeiper]

21. May 10, 1994. Illinois. John Wayne Gacy. Lethal Injection. After the execution began, the lethal chemicals unexpectedly solidified, clogging the IV tube that lead into Gacy's arm, and prohibiting any further passage. Blinds covering the window through which witnesses observed the execution were drawn, and the execution team replaced the clogged tube with a new one. Ten minutes later, the blinds were then reopened and the execution process resumed. It took 18 minutes to complete.31 Anesthesiologists blamed the problem on the inexperience of prison officials who were conducting the execution, saying that proper procedures taught in "IV 101" would have prevented the error.32

 

I'm sure everyone's heart bled over this one.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

This talk of botched executions reminds of the the SNL skit Death Row Bloppers.

[Guest Bannable Offense]

I always wondered about strapping heavy explosives to a hat and vest to a dead man walking and detonating them in an open field. I'd figure the concussion from the explosion alone would kill them outright at the moment of detonation and they wouldn't have a chance to feel a thing. It's not a really pretty way to go, but it would be an effective means of execution.

 

Of course, a well-trained firing squad is a cheaper means that is equally effective so I doubt you'll see my suggestion for an execution procedure anytime soon.

[Guest Anglesault]

How are lethal injections inhumane, but hangings are humane...

Lethal injections can go wrong much more easily, as can electrocution. Hanging someone is pretty much an exact science.

On the contary, anything can go wrong at anytime in something. The chances of something going wrong in a lethal injection/execution are higher than a hanging, but the chance is still there.

you should hear some of the better-known horror stories about electrocution & lethal injection gone wrong: botched executions

 

My heart bleeds forn the murderous scum, It really does.

Edited May 24, 2003 by Anglesault

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Pardon my ignorance, but when a lethal injection goes wrong like in Gacy's situation, what kind of pain is he going through exactly? It's pretty simple to understand what's happening when the electrocution method doesn't work, and someone is all of a sudden walking around on fire. But I'm curious as to what kind of pain is going through someone that is the "victim" of a botched lethal injection.