GOP’s firing squad idiocy: The hypocrisy of “humane executions”

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/07/gops_firing_squad_idiocy_the_hypocrisy_of_humane_executions/


The execution chamber at the Utah State Prison after Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad Friday, June 18, 2010. (Credit: Reuters/Trent Nelson)

When Utah Republican congressman Paul Ray recently announced a proposal to bring back firing squads, it was a response to the infamous “botched” execution of Clayton Lockett in the state of Oklahoma. A few days later, the state of Tennessee approved the reinstatement of the electric chair in case it runs out of drugs for lethal injection (the drugs are made in Europe, where manufacturers refuse to sell them to anyone who would use them for that purpose).

Whether or not these alternatives get traction, they are important indicators of the political state of play in matters of capital punishment. Lockett’s 43-minute ordeal has already prompted the suspension of two other executions, and made lethal injection seem unsustainable.

Let’s backtrack to what might have been a historical turning point.

According to the official timeline, on the day of his execution Clayton Lockett struck a defiant note, refusing to submit to an X-ray until officers shot him with a stun gun (he also declined to see his lawyers, and turned down his last meal).