(Wyo.)-Use Of Firing Squads Bill Continues To Advance
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A bill to allow the use of firing squads to execute condemned Wyoming inmates continues to advance this legislative session.
The House Judiciary Committee on Monday voted to recommend the full House approve the bill. It already has passed in the Senate.
Supporters say a shortage of drugs used for lethal injections means Wyoming needs to adopt an alternative way to execute inmates.
Steve Lindly of the Wyoming Department of Corrections told the committee that the state last executed an inmate in 1992. The state now has no inmates on death row.
Opponents say the firing squad would be too barbaric. Representatives from the Wyoming Association of Churches and the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Cheyenne urged lawmakers to reject the bill, saying they oppose the death penalty.
http://chadrad.com/newsstory.cfm?story=36529
The gas chamber used to be Wyomings backup method of execution in case execution by lethal injection was ever declared unconstitutional. Now it sounds as if firing squads will soon be more popular than either of those two methods. Maybe hanging will be the new backup.