Utah lawmakers okay firing squad as execution back-up

Before the 18-10 vote by the state Senate, Gov. Gary Herbert declined to say explicitly if he would sign the bill but noted that Utah is having trouble finding chemicals to kill death-row inmates.

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“If those substances cannot be obtained, this proposal would make sure that those instructed to carry out the lawful order of the court and the carefully deliberated decision of the jury can do so,” Herbert, a Republican, said in a statement.

There are a handful of inmates on Utah’s death row who can already choose firing squad as their execution method because they were sentenced before 2004, when the state took that option away. The last prisoner to be executed by firing squad was Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010.

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