Firing squad or lethal injection - which would you choose?

In a bizarre turn of events Ronnie Lee Gardner may be the first death row inmate to be executed by firing squad in Utah since 1996 – if he so decides.

'Man executed by Utah firing squad': this is not a headline most Americans would expect to read in in 2010. However, should death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner choose to be executed by firing squad instead of by lethal injection, people in Utah could be waking up to that very news.

A loophole in Utah’s 2004 legislation outlawing the use of firing squads as a method of execution gives inmates sentenced to death before 2004 the option of choosing between the lethal injection – now the default method of execution in Utah and the US generally - or death by firing squad.

Ronnie, 49, was given the death sentence over two decades ago for killing lawyer Michael Burdell whilst attempting to escape from the Salt Lake Metro Hall of Justice in 1985. He will be the first person given the option to decide how he wishes to be put to death by the state of Utah.

Ronnie originally opted for death by firing squad in 1985 but later changed his mind. He will be making his final choice known at a court hearing on the 23rd of April. To help his decision, the Utah Department of Corrections has even agreed to release information on the protocols of each execution method to Ronnie's lawyer, Mr Andrew Parnes, who will then be permitted to verbally convey the information to his client.

The question of whether we have the right to choose how we die is most commonly debated in connection with issues such as euthanasia and assisted suicide. 

Doubtless there are people who would argue that those sentenced to death don’t deserve a say in the matter. However, for those who think it better that Ronnie has the right to choose, the more one thinks about it the more one realises that this is really no choice at all. Death row prisoners are simply being afforded the right to pick the means by which they are ultimately denied all of their human rights.

 Put yourself in Ronnie’s shoes and ask yourself the question – lethal injection or firing squad?

Most of us might instinctively go for lethal injection, believing what we are told about how it is the most humane, least painful option. However, as the case of Romell Broom would indicate, this is not necessarily the case. Medical professionals spent several hours trying to locate a vein to inject Mr Broom and he even had to assist them in the process only for the execution to be postponed.

Worryingly Romell is only one of many people who have suffered through botched attempts to kill using the lethal injection - be it through difficulties locating a vein, failures on the part of incompetent or untrained staff or an incorrect dosage of one of the three component drugs - sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide or potassium chloride.

The idea of someone being executed by firing squad in the modern age is very disturbing. However it would be a mistake to assume that, up close, death by lethal injection is any less so.