05-09-2003 21:41									#1
	Mormon Church OKs Firing Squad Change Increase the size of your Attachments

Thu Sep 4,11:37 PM ET

SALT LAKE CITY - Hoping to clear the way for eliminating the firing squad as a means of execution, a Utah commission asked for and received a statement from the Mormon church saying it does not oppose the change.

In a one-sentence statement provided Wednesday to the Utah Sentencing Commission, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it "has no objection to the elimination of the firing squad in Utah."

The clarification was needed, according to one commission member, because of a purported church doctrine that held that justice was not done unless a murderer's blood was shed.

The Mormon statement removes a significant obstacle in Utah's effort to do away with firing-squad executions.

Commission member Paul Boyden said recent letters to the editor to newspapers indicate some in Mormon-dominated Utah still believe the firing squad is necessary for religious reasons. Commission members feared that belief could hurt the chances of the proposed change in the Legislature.

"If we hadn't (asked for the church's position), this probably would have been a question among some legislators and it may have not made it out of committee," Boyden said.

The commission is studying the issue and plans to formally recommend eliminating the firing squad, leaving injection as Utah's only method of execution. Commission members want to make the change quickly to stop the "media circus" that surrounds firing squad executions, Boyden said.

Utah is the only state that uses the firing squad method, although Idaho and Oklahoma retain it as an option if other methods are not viable.

Utah's last execution by firing squad took place in 1996. Two death row inmates who had chosen that method had been scheduled to die in June, but those executions were delayed.


Jurisdictions that Authorize
Lethal Injection
37 states + U.S. Military and U.S. Gov't
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado,Connecticut, Delaware, Florida,Georgia, Idaho, Illinois,Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi,Missouri, Montana, Nevada,New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,Texas, Utah, Virginia,Washington, Wyoming, U.S. Military, U.S. Government

Electrocution
10 states (Nebraska is the only state that requires electrocution)
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, [Illinois], Kentucky,Nebraska, [Oklahoma], South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia

Gas Chamber
5 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)
Arizona, California, Maryland, Missouri, [Wyoming]

Hanging
2 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)
New Hampshire, Washington

Firing Squad
3 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method)
Idaho, [Oklahoma], Utah*
----------------------------------------------------------

Alabama
Effective 7/1/02, lethal injection will be administered unless the inmate requests electrocution.
Arizona
Authorizes lethal injection for persons sentenced after 11/15/92; those sentenced before that date may select lethal injection or lethal gas.
Arkansas
Authorizes lethal injection for persons committing a capital offense after 7/4/83; those who committed the offense before that date may select lethal injection or electrocution.
California
Provides that lethal injection be administered unless the inmate requests lethal gas.
Colorado
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Connecticut
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Delaware
Lethal Injection is the sole method. Hanging was an alternative for those whose offense occurred prior to 6/13/86, but as of July 2003 no inmates on death row were elligible to choose this alternative and Delaware dismantled its gallows.
Florida
Allows prisoners to choose between lethal injection and electrocution
Georgia
Lethal injection is the sole method. (On October 5, 2001, the Georgia Supreme Court held that the electric chair was cruel and unusual punishment and struck down the state's use of the method)
Idaho
Authorizes firing squad only if lethal injection is "impractical".
Illinois
Lethal injection is the state's method. However, it authorizes electrocution if lethal injection is ever held to be unconstitutional.
Indiana
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Kansas
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Kentucky
Authorizes lethal injection for those convicted after March 31, 1998; those who committed the offense before that date may select lethal injection or electrocution
Louisiana
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Maryland
Authorizes lethal injection for those whose capital offenses occurred on or after 3/25/94; those who committed the offense before that date may select lethal injection or lethal gas.
Mississippi
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Missouri
Authorizes lethal injection or lethal gas; the statute leaves unclear who decides what method to use, the inmate or the Director of the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Montana
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Nebraska
Electrocution is the sole method.
Nevada
Lethal injection is the sole method.
New Hampshire
Authorizes hanging only if lethal injection cannot be given.
New Jersey
Lethal injection is the sole method.
New Mexico
Lethal injection is the sole method.
New York
Lethal injection is the sole method.
North Carolina
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Ohio
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Oklahoma
Authorizes electrocution if lethal injection is ever held to be unconstitutional and firing squad if both lethal injection and electrocution are held unconstitutional.
Oregon
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Pennsylvania
Lethal injection is the sole method.
South Carolina
Allows prisoners to choose between lethal injection and electrocution
South Dakota
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Tennessee
Authorizes lethal injection for those sentenced after Jan. 1, 1999; others choose between the electric chair and lethal injection.
Texas
Lethal injection is the sole method.
Utah
Allows prisoners to choose between lethal injection and firing squad.
Virginia
Allows prisoners to choose between lethal injection and electrocution
Washington
Provides that lethal injection be administered unless the inmate requests hanging.
Wyoming
Authorizes lethal gas if lethal injection is ever held to be unconstitutional.
U.S. Military
Lethal injection is the sole method
U.S. Government
The method of execution of Federal prisoners for offenses under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is that of the state in which the conviction took place, pursuant to 18 USC 3596. If the state has no death penalty, the judge may chose the method of another state. For offenses under the 1988 Drug Kingpin Law, the method of executions is lethal injection, pursuant to 28 CFR, Part 26.

	05-09-2003 22:34									#2
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Interesting...

	05-09-2003 22:40									#3
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Bring back Hanging!!!

	05-09-2003 22:54									#4
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Darn right, bring back hanging.
Want to see something REALLY weird, and in poor taste ?
Right side near top, for one thing.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/art...?scid=8&did=245

	05-09-2003 22:57									#5
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Why do states have contingencies for lethal injection being declared unconstitutional? is this likely to happen?

	05-09-2003 22:59									#6
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No. I've not heard that.
In fact, lethal injection, as you can see above, is "humanistic".


BTW, I didn't click on that "weird" part I was noting.
Not me, said the flea.
Not I, said the fly.

	05-09-2003 23:01									#7
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For that matter, why do they swab your arm with alcohol before lethally injecting you?

I sure would like to see poleaxing make a showing on the death scene.

	05-09-2003 23:03									#8
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Drawing and quartering ?
I think society is trying to get away from brutal methods there, Harry.

	05-09-2003 23:05									#9
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If they really wanted to get away from it they'd just outlaw the death penalty. Besides, the American Beef Association of Cattle Farmers says poleaxing is quick and painless. Plus they drop like, well, poleaxed cows.

	05-09-2003 23:06									#10
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They should just make all death row jail cells into death boxes... Say, Make them into the actual gas chamber, and when they are sleeping let the gas fly... they'll never see it coming.

Or, put them in a cell with a lion (and don't feed the lion)

Or, have the cell walls move in 1 inch every day, until

	06-09-2003 00:11									#11
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properly excecuted hanging and properly excecuted lethal injection are both (relatively) humane. But both are rarely properly excecuted.

	06-09-2003 00:24									#12
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I find Oklahoma's stance slightly bizarre, guess they're covering their bases.

	06-09-2003 00:24									#13
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That's utter bullshit, Goingonit.
Well, I can only speak for Texas and it's lethal injections.
That link has some botched executions.

	06-09-2003 00:25									#14
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There is really no humane way to kill someone. So, why not just have them choose? Why restrict them from any form of death?

	06-09-2003 00:28									#15
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What if they pick some gross as hell way?
They're damned murderers after all.

	06-09-2003 00:29									#16
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Well, you give them a choice. What have we got now? Lethal Injection -or- Lethal Injection?

I saw you put out a Needle, a Chair, a Rope, a Gun, a Guilitine, Cinderblocks, and Lead Pipe and let 'em pick

	06-09-2003 00:32									#17
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That sounds like "Clue".

	06-09-2003 00:34									#18
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Yeah, but the way you use the lead pipe is way different!

	06-09-2003 00:46									#19
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quote: Originally posted by Japher There is really no humane way to kill someone. So, why not just have them choose? Why restrict them from any form of death?

When I worked with mice we killed them in one of two ways, depending on what we needed to em. The msot humane method, but which interfered with a lot of our experiments, was using gas (overdose of an anasthaetic). Otherwise we used rapid dislocation of the neck (either via metal rod behind the base of the head and push whilst pulling tail, or by using your fingers instead), which when done right results in instant death.

	06-09-2003 00:47									#20
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MY wife kills mice for a living

	06-09-2003 00:49									#21
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that's nice . . . . . .

	06-09-2003 00:51									#22
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Mice, rats. What's the difference ?

	06-09-2003 00:52									#23
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Mice meat is tougher and chewier... Yet, rat meat actually has a real gamey taste.

	06-09-2003 00:56									#24
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You guys really do not have to ruin my appetite for dinner later on tonight.

	06-09-2003 00:57									#25
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Well another sanctioned way, more for rats than mice, which i luckily never had to use, was to grab them by the tail and break their neck by a swift swing on a table edge. Don't think you can do that with humans though

	06-09-2003 00:59									#26
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As for taste, never had mouse. Rat and guinea pig taste very rabbity though, which is prolly hardly surprising.

	06-09-2003 01:00									#27
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What was that movie about the guy who carshed his plane in some Siberian like place and started living like the wolves, eating mice and scenting his territory?

That was a pretty good flick.

	06-09-2003 01:06									#28
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What's so odd about scenting one's territory ?

	06-09-2003 01:12									#29
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When I was in Ecuador in the summer of 2001, I had a few opportunities to try roasted guneia pig.

Needless to say, I never tried it.

	06-09-2003 01:16									#30
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bah! nothing beats the sublime texture of octopus genetalia!
(nastly little rubbery things they be)