Death row inmates seeking firing squad as alternative to lethal injection

Two Oklahoma death row inmates are seeking to be executed by firing squad instead of the state’s typical method of lethal injection, reports The Associated Press.

An attorney for inmates Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle asked U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot for a temporary injunction that would delay their executions until the courts determine whether Oklahoma’s three-drug lethal injection is constitutional, according to the wire service.

Oklahoma has never used firing squads as a method of execution, although state law allows for this method if others, like lethal injection, are deemed unconstitutional or are unavailable, according to the AP.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections only currently has protocols in place for executions by lethal injection, the wire service noted.

A trial before Friot will begin on Feb. 28, according to the wire service. Grant is scheduled for execution on Jan. 27 and Postelle for Feb. 17, both before the trial starts.

A hearing occurred Monday in Oklahoma City to consider the motion.

“While it may be gruesome to look at, we all agree it will be quicker,” argued the inmates’ attorney Jim Stronski of the requested switch to a firing squad, according to the AP.

James Williams, an emergency medicine specialist who was a victim of a gunshot wound to the chest and has studied the use of firing squads extensively, testified in favor of their use, per the wire service.

Williams claimed that shots from four or more high-powered firearms to the “cardiac bundle” of the heart would result in death quickly enough to be painless for an inmate, according to the AP. There is low likelihood that an execution by firing squad would be botched, Williams said, as opposed to a higher likelihood for lethal injection.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections Chief of Operations Justin Farris, who was inside the death chamber for the executions of death row inmates John Marion Grant and Bigler Stouffer in 2021, also testified at the hearing.

Friot said he hopes to release an order in response to the inmates’ motions by the end of the week, the AP reported.