'Dignity for All': Idaho Bill Proposes Firing Squad as State's Primary Execution Method

[C0RI0LANUS]

Firing squad executing a prisoner, circa 1890. (Vintage Images / Getty Images)

Eleven months after Idaho failed to execute a prisoner for the first time ever using lethal injection, Republican lawmakers have their targets set on using a firing squad as the state’s primary execution method. Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced the bill Tuesday, which would make Idaho the only US state to give preference to a firing squad. Skaug sponsored a bill that became law in 2023 that added back the firing squad as a backup method of execution in the state, but only when lethal injection is not possible because of a lack of execution drugs.


Humanitarian and all-round good guy State Rep. Bruce Skaug (R-Nampa) who introduced the firing squad bill. (Undated photo via the public domain).


The Idaho Department of Correction has since had more consistent access to pentobarbital, the state’s preferred chemical for lethal injections. The state prison system most recently bought a batch of the drugs in Oct 2024, court records showed. But nearly two years later — and after state prison officials failed to find a suitable vein for an IV in the body of 73-year-old death row prisoner Thomas Creech — Skaug now hopes to ensure that prisoners on Idaho’s nine-member death row are shot to death. Lethal injection would become the state’s backup method.


Idaho’s death row at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution near Kuna houses male prisoners sentenced to death. Female death row inmates are housed at the Women’s Correctional Center in Pocatello. (Photo: Idaho Department of Correction)


In South Carolina any of the 30 death row inmates may request firing squad if lethal injection is unavailable.

Sources:

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/article298915055.html

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/south-carolina-firing-squad/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_death_row_inmates_in_the_United_States

[Klarkashton]

1. Of course the bastard would look like that.

[C0RI0LANUS]

2. Yup. And instead of proposing a bill to ban the death penalty, Skaug wants to ensure its continued use.

Bruce Skaug is a candidate for "Worst Person of the World."

[DFW]

3. At least we now know why Colonel Sanders can't be found in Kentucky any more. n/t

[LeftInTX]

4. I remember when Trump wanted to bring back firing squads.

[C0RI0LANUS]

5. When #47 finds out about Idaho's Colonel Sanders, he will nominate him to run the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).