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by Causes | 9.4.18

Death row inmates in Tennessee say using a firing squad would be more humane than the state’s current, “torturous” lethal injection method, The Tennessean reports.
In a federal lawsuit, the inmates say the state tortured Billy Ray Irick to death when it injected him with toxic chemicals, and argue that using the same drugs in another execution would violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment.

Background

Other courts have rejected similar arguments in the past, but this case takes the additional step of outlining the feasibility of the firing squad alternative, highlighting the presence of a firing range on the grounds of a Tennessee maximum security prison.

Irick was the first inmate to be executed according to Tennessee’s new three-drug protocol. According to court documents and medical research, it’s likely that he experienced suffocation and the feeling of being burned alive, but the paralytic effects of one of the drugs masked the full expression of his suffering.

States across the U.S. have been exploring alternative execution methods as the private companies that manufacture lethal injection drugs are increasingly withholding them, saying their products are intended to save lives, not to take them.

Utah, Oklahoma, and Mississippi have all reinstated death by firing squad.

This month, Nebraska became the first state to use fentanyl – a potent element of many deadly opioid overdoses – in an execution.

Alabama approved nitrogen gas for executions earlier this year.

Supreme Court

Irick’s execution took place after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his request for a stay.

Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote an emphatic dissent that some now see as prophetic:

“Although the Midazolam may temporarily render Irick unconscious, the onset of pain and suffocation will rouse him. And it may do so just as the paralysis sets in, too late for him to alert bystanders that his execution has gone horribly (if predictably) wrong… In refusing to grant Irick a stay, the Court today turns a blind eye to a proven likelihood that the State of Tennessee is on the verge of inflicting several minutes of torturous pain on an inmate in its custody, while shrouding his suffering behind a veneer of paralysis… If the law permits this execution to go forward in spite of the horrific final minutes that Irick may well experience, then we have stopped being a civilized nation and accepted barbarism.”

What do you think?

Is death by lethal injection cruel and unusual punishment? If yes, what alternative do you support? If not, why not? Hit Take Action to tell your reps what you think, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Hailshadow)

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