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US judge: Use firing squad for death row inmates
[Iran Press TV] US Judge Alex Kozinski has called for firing squad as the primary method of executing death row inmates instead of lethal injection.The chief judge of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals urged states to abandon the injection following a recent string of botched lethal injections. In an opinion, he labeled the lethal injection method as a dishonest attempt to disguise the brutal nature of capital punishment. The opinion came after the botched lethal injection of Arizona death row inmate Joseph Wood took almost two hours on Wednesday. Wood was set to die July 23 for the 1989 murders of his estranged girlfriend and her father. "Whatever happens to Wood, the attacks will not stop and for a simple reason: The enterprise is flawed. Using drugs meant for individuals with medical needs to carry out executions is a misguided effort to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and peaceful—like something any one of us might experience in our final moments. But executions are, in fact, nothing like that. They are brutal, savage events, and nothing the state tries to do can mask that reality. Nor should it," he wrote. The judge insists that firing squads would never be troubled by a lack of guns or ammunition, adding that the guillotine is probably the best method, but seems inconsistent with national ethos. "The firing squad strikes me as the most promising. Eight or ten large-caliber rifle bullets fired at close range can inflict massive damage, causing instant death every time. There are plenty of people employed by the state who can pull the trigger and have the training to aim true," Kozinski said. "Sure, firing squads can be messy, but if we are willing to carry out executions, we should not shield ourselves from the reality that we are shedding human blood." Posted by: Fred 2014-07-25 |
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