To enhance their reinstated firing squad as the primary method of execution, Idaho legislators are taking steps with eight current death row inmates and the capital murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in the student murders case, looming.
According to Idaho state Rep. Bruce Skaug, who proposed the legislation, “I, along with many others, believe the firing squad is more certain, has fewer appellate issues, and is more humane compared to other execution methods. We had an unsuccessful lethal injection incident in Idaho last year.”
The state brought back the firing squad in March 2023 as a secondary option when lethal injection, an increasingly problematic and disputed means of execution, is unavailable.
The chair in which John Albert Taylor was strapped during his scheduled execution is shown at Unitas State Prison in Utah on Jan. 24, 1996. Taylor chose to die by a firing squad of five men instead of a lethal injection. (Lee Celano/Reuters)
Lethal injections look modern and even “clinical,” he said, but can be far more gruesome than they appear. One of the drugs in the typical injection cocktail is a paralyltic meant to keep the condemned from writhing – for witness’ comfort not their own.
Madison Mogen smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
Idaho currently has eight death row inmates, including Creech, and is gearing up or a high-profile trial over the stabbing murders of four college students. Suspect Bryan Kohberger, a 30-year-old former criminology Ph.D. student, could face the death penalty if convicted.
Kohberger is scheduled for trial later this year in connection with the home invasion murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, an Ethan Chapin, also 20.
The firing squad bill remains in committee. A hearing and public testimony has not yet been scheduled, Skaug said.
