quote:

Originally posted by Rawny:
Since they had to do it twice, did they give this dirt bag a second "Last Meal" request?

His last meal was breakfast - 8 hours prior the the scheduled time, and he wasn't allowed drinks after 4PM.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news...7688a0ead0ea3&ei=113

Had to have an empty stomach. They wouldn't want him to aspirate and die. Wait....

We got five in Utah warming up...


Utah Judge Clears the Way for Use of the Firing Squad
Posted on Jan 04, 2024

METHODS OF EXECUTION LETHAL INJECTION UTAH

On December 22, 2023, Judge Coral Sanchez of Utah’s Third Circuit Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by five men on the state’s death row that challenged Utah’s two execution methods and protocols. Ralph Menzies, Troy Kell, Michael Archuleta, Douglas Carter, and Taberon Honie sought an order vacating Utah’s current execution protocols for lethal injection and firing squad and enjoining their future use. The prisoners argue that both methods constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. In her decision to dismiss their lawsuit, Judge Sanchez wrote that the “plaintiffs have offered no legal precedent or historical facts to support facts to support their interpretation of the cruel and unusual punishment clause: that a method of execution must result in instantaneous death.” Judge Sanchez further stated that the “plaintiff’s interpretation of Utah’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments requires a painless execution, not just a (sic) execution without severe pain.” Judge Sanchez’s order clears the way for Utah to execute prisoners by firing squad, a method last used in 2010.

Utah’s lethal injection protocol employs a three-drug cocktail that includes sodium thiopental, a drug the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said has no legal use in the United States. Assistant Utah Attorney General David Wolf argued to Judge Sanchez in November 2023 that the protocol allows the use of a drug similar to sodium thiopental. If unable to acquire sodium thiopental or a similar drug, the state is allowed to carry out executions by firing squad. In 2010, Utah executed Ronnie Gardner by firing squad and plaintiffs argue that Mr. Gardner did not have an instantaneous death. Following Mr. Gardner’s execution, journalist Sandra Yi wrote that “some of [the execution witnesses] weren’t sure if [Mr. Gardner] had passed away because we could see movement… He had his fist clenched and we could see his elbow move up and down.”

In her decision to dismiss the suit, Judge Sanchez also wrote that “plaintiffs have identified problems with Utah’s current protocols but have not advanced alternative protocols that would alleviate the current issues, such as a protocol about where to place a target on a person’s body to reduce the prolonged consciousness when being executed by a firing squad.” The onerous standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bucklew v. Precythe requires successful plaintiffs to “show a feasible and readily implemented alternative method that would significantly reduce a substantial risk of severe pain and that the State has refused to adopt without a legitimate penological reason.”

The five plaintiffs have 21 days from the issuance of Judge Sanchez’s decision to file a motion to amend their original complaint. If they do not do so, their lawsuit will be dismissed without prejudice. Judge Sanchez’s decision comes after a motion to dismiss the suit was filed by the Utah Attorney General’s Office. That office released the following statement after Judge Sanchez’s order:

Today, Utah Third District Court Judge Coral Sanchez upheld Utah’s Death Penalty statute by grant­i­ng a motion to dis­miss filed by the Utah Attorney General’s Office. The Plaintiffs on the law­suit were Ralph Menzies, Taberon Honie, Troy Kell, Douglas Carter, and Michael Archuleta. The law­suit claimed the meth­ods the State uses to exe­cute pris­on­ers cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment. Menzies has exhaust­ed all appeals of his death sen­tence. His exe­cu­tion will be sched­uled when a death war­rant is issued.

For those sentenced to death before May 2004, prisoners may choose between execution by lethal injection or by a firing squad. If sentenced after that date, prisoners must be executed by lethal injection, unless this method is ruled unconstitutional or unavailable. If Utah cannot obtain the necessary drugs, the state may make use of the firing squad.

Mr. Menzies was sentenced to death in 1988 for the 1986 murder of a gas station employee in Kearns, Utah. The Utah Attorney General’s Office has announced they intend to seek a death warrant for Mr. Menzies, whose sentence of death is to be carried out by a firing squad.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/n...-of-the-firing-squad

"Utah Judge Clears the Way for Use of the Firing Squad"

It was good enough for Gary Gilmore.

(I knew his son. Met him in a "situation" over 3 month period at Eglin AFB Medical facility in the spring of 1987)

As a just punishment, and as a deterrent, the death penalty seems more valid than ever.

The time spent on death row should be limited to a moderate amount of time, say 5 years.

If the only issue now is finding the best method of execution, then there are solutions available.

As for instant justice, I'm reminded of the events on mainland China, a good number or years back. The BG was a well-known PITA, with fingers in many dumplings, and was hauled up n front of the regional panel of judges one morning. After a little bit of to-in and fro-ing, he received his sentence - forty years hard labour on the local roads, or until he dropped.

Given the benefit of a short speech, he opined that the sentence was unjust and cruel in the length and depth of his suffering, and noted that he would need to be fed and housed AND clothed for this entire period of sentence, or until he dropped down dead from sheer hard work.

The panel of judges went into a huddle, and five minutes later, came up with a solution.

'As you rightly point out' said the head judge 'the burden placed on your fellow citizens for your care and feeding the next possibly forty years is indeed an onerous one. Soooo, thanking you for your consideration, we sentence you to death by shooting. The truck awaits you outside, and the execution will be carried out before the midday break. As is customary, your surviving family will receive the bill for expended ammunition and burial. Thank you again, and goodbye.'

I don’t understand any of the ramblings over the method used, who cares. I do understand, in modern times, a firing squad or hanging could be problematic for some.

Why not just give them what they administer to pets when it’s the end? Up the dose, off the perp drifts, what’s wrong with that?

How about what you get when going in for surgery or a colonoscopy? Just give extra, they never wake up.

Yes I realize most are just trying to slow the process down or tie it up in court for years.

Fentanyl. Almost weekly I hear how enough has been seized to kill 140 million people.

Just sprinkle on their last meal, only don't tell them it is their last meal. If death row inmates start refusing to eat, problem solved in a month or two.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:

How about what you get when going in for surgery or a colonoscopy? Just give extra, they never wake up.

Of course, that would be too simple and deny the ghoulish drama that some desire. Speaking of surgery, how is it that nurses in surgical centers seem to be able to start IVs on patients of every size, every age, every state of health with little or no problem hundreds of thousands of times each year, but prison staff almost always struggles getting the damn IV? Do they have the janitors doing it?

"Make it a quick, single thrust!" (Star Trek episode "Bread and Circuses")

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:

How about what you get when going in for surgery or a colonoscopy? Just give extra, they never wake up.

Of course, that would be too simple and deny the ghoulish drama that some desire. Speaking of surgery, how is it that nurses in surgical centers seem to be able to start IVs on patients of every size, every age, every state of health with little or no problem hundreds of thousands of times each year, but prison staff almost always struggles getting the damn IV? Do they have the janitors doing it?

Hippocratic Oath for some and or violation of state license for others maybe?

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

quote:

Originally posted by Rawny:
Since they had to do it twice, did they give this dirt bag a second "Last Meal" request?

Nope, he gets leftovers...

Gold, Monkey! Comedy Gold!

Shouldn't we hear from Madame Guillotine in this discussion? Hey, they could sew his head back on for the funeral (not that he deserves a funeral either). His body? Make the greens happy by composting it, or the sharks happy by tossing it in the ocean! Hey guys, free bait down at Smitty's Bait Shack today!

Public guillotine. Bring it back. I suspect it will be somewhat of a deterrence.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Public guillotine. Bring it back. I suspect it will be somewhat of a deterrence.

Timing is the real issue for deterrence.
Nobody wants to execute someone that is truly innocent and we need to take as long as needed if there's any reasonable doubt.
There are many, probably most cases where there is zero doubt and those are the ones that need to be fast tracked.
This guys appeals were never about true guilt or innocence, just about procedural technicalities. He should have been gone decades ago.

So, my guess is part of the “intact body” thing is that some religious groups have stuff about being buried whole.

As dangerous as enclosed spaces are, and as cheap as N2 is, I agree it seems like something which should have been done a long time ago.

It should be easy enough for the state to run its own separator, and supply its own N2 to avoid the pressure the activists can apply to private suppliers/industrial gas suppliers won’t have the same Hippocratic oath issues.

quote:

Place a slug-loaded 12 gauge shotgun to the back of their head. POW!

man, what a mess

just use a 22, it'll scramble their brains, entrance hole only

I'd go further by eliminating the first step. One .50 BMG would ensure the outcome.

Q

Come on Q, .50 gets kinda pricey. Do you have something against slugs or 45’s?

Switch to liquid nitrogen and shatter 'em like the movie Terminator.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
I'd go further by eliminating the first step. One .50 BMG would ensure the outcome.

Most assuredly, but the 12 gauge slug would also be instantaneous incapacitation, and cheaper than 6 bucks a round.

The idea of sedation is to be humane. In the United States, the death penalty is intended to completely and permanently remove a person from society and even incarceration. The method of execution, however, is not intended to cause the condemned to suffer; quite the opposite. As time has gone on, the intent has been to make executions as humane as possible. Therefore, sedating the condemned so that they do not have to anticipate the moment of execution any longer than necessary is the right thing to do.