Death Row Inmates Make Argument For Firing Squad Over Injection
Two inmates have asked for their executions to be delayed until a decision can be made considering a firing squad over lethal injection.
Two inmates on death row in Oklahoma have asked for a temporary injunction in their upcoming executions.
They want a trial to be held to decide if the existing lethal injection method is constitutional.
Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle have pushed for US District Judge Stephen Friot for the delay over concerns about Oklahoma's three-drug lethal injunction method
The duo has requested a firing squad, suggesting it's a less problematic alternative to the existing method.
A trial is set to begin on February 28, but Grant is scheduled to be put to death on January 27 and Potelle on February 17.
"While it may be gruesome to look at, we all agree it will be quicker," attorney Jim Stronski told Friot after a day-long hearing in Oklahoma City.
Friot said he hopes to hand down a decision by the end of the week.
"There's a lot for me to get my mind around," the US District Judge said.
Emergency medicine specialist Dr James Williams, who has more than 40,000 hours of emergency room experience, was one of the experts who testified.
Williams testified that a firing squad involving shots from at least four high-powered rifles to the heart area would be so quick the inmate wouldn't feel any pain.
He also said that, unlike a lethal injection, the firing squad execution has a very low chance of being botched.
Oklahoma has never used firing squads in executions, but the law does state methods other than lethal injection can be used if the existing method is unavailable or ruled unconstitutional.
Justin Farris, chief operations of the Department of Corrections, also testified about the lethal injection deaths of John Marion Grant and Bigler Stouffer, who were executed late last year.
Farris, who was in the death chamber for both executions, described them as 'opposite ends of the spectrum'.
He explained how Grant, who was declared dead after vomiting and convulsing on the gurney, was angry and resisted the process by flexing his limbs.
Stouffer was 'just as polite as you can imagine under the circumstances', Farris said.
Farris also testified that the doctor who inserts the intravenous lines and oversees the injections is paid US$15,000 for each execution he attends, as well as US$1,000 for every day of training.
The impeding injection comes less than a year after South Carolina issued a new law allowing death row inmates to choose between execution by electric chair or firing squad.
"The families and loved ones of victims are owed closure and justice by law. Now, we can provide it," Governor Henry McMaster said at the time.
But human rights groups have criticised the decision, saying lethal injection is considered the most humane method of execution.
Grant is facing execution after admitting to the murder of two workers at the LaQuinta Inn in Del City during a 2001 robbery.
Postelle was convicted of killing four people while high on methamphetamine 16 years ago.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy Stock PhotoHannah Blackiston