Idaho lawmakers are moving to bolster their newly restored firing squad as the state's primary means of execution with eight current death row inmates and the capital murder trial of student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger approaching.
"I, along with many others, believe the firing squad is more certain, has less appellate issues, and is more humane than other forms of execution," Idaho state Rep. Bruce Skaug, who introduced the legislation, told Fox News Digital. "We had a botched lethal injection attempt in Idaho last year."
In March 2023, the state revived the firing squad as a backup option for when lethal injection, a troubled and increasingly controversial method of execution, is not available.
Then last year, condemned
serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech survived his lethal injection, prompting renewed interest in the firing squad.
The new move would make the firing squad the state's primary means of capital punishment – without any additional cost to taxpayers, since funding for the execution chamber was included in the previous bill.
Kohberger's defense, meanwhile has sought to have the death penalty taken off the table and is challenging warrants and DNA evidence used in his arrest.
Two days of hearings on defense motions in the quadruple murder case against University of Idaho student stabbings suspect ended without any official decisions but revealed new details ahead of his highly anticipated trial later this year. The judge is expected to deliver his decisions within a couple of weeks.
Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno, a leading expert on the death penalty in the U.S., previously told Fox News Digital that the firing squad is accepted as the most efficient and humane means of execution.
"We've had three modern firing squad executions, and they have gone off as intended, and the inmate has died quickly and with dignity," she said after
Creech's failed execution. "So, I think that is something to emphasize."
Lethal injections have been plagued by mishaps, drug shortages and botched attempts. Creech was the fourth person to survive a lathe execution in just the last few years.
Denno has advocated for giving inmates a choice in their means of execution.
"I have a hunch that more inmates would choose firing squad," she told Fox News Digital, noting that
Tennessee inmates have begun choosing electrocution over lethal injection when given the choice.
Only four states have an option for the firing squad, although its use is extremely rare, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which also describes lethal injections as the
"most-botched" execution method.
Matt Mangino, a former Pennsylvania prosecutor who wrote a book on capital punishment, "The Executioner's Toll, 2010," said in the current political climate, he believes the new Idaho bill will pass.