States discusses bring back firing squad, hangings after botched lethal injections.
Wyoming lawmakers are talking about changing the law to allow the firing squad, while their counterparts in Utah have proposed repealing a law that ended firing squads for prisoners convicted after 2004. Missouri law allows for the gas chamber, and politicians from both parties last year suggested rebuilding one.
During the electric-chair debate in Tennessee, one lawmaker said he would support hanging and the firing squad, too. Another legislator, Republican Rep. Dennis Powers, the bill's House sponsor, shrugged off legal and ethical concerns about the measure.
"It's not our job to judge. That's God's job to judge," Powers said. "Our job is to arrange the meeting."
Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, said the new Tennessee law could be part of an effort to force death row inmates challenging lethal injection to back off.
"It might be the design that, 'Hey, if you fight against this hard enough and say we can't use lethal injection, fine, we'll strap your guy in the chair,'" Berman said.
"Maybe that will move the needle on the willingness of the defense bar in Tennessee to be as aggressive in complaining about what they see as problematic with lethal injection."
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