Oklahoma’s Out With Lethal Injections, In With Firing Squads

Oklahoma has had a tumultuous relationship with carrying out capital punishment death sentences in the last decade. When the regular drug cocktail used for decades became hard to find, replacements made for famously horrible and botched executions.

Death row inmate killing took a few years off while Oklahoma officials looked to solidify not only the three-drug products but also a feasible standard operating procedure. All in all, the goal was to restore the idea that the injection process would first chemically lull the condemned into a deep sleep, then they would pass into whatever lies beyond peacefully.

When carrying out death sentences resumed in 2021, the new standards and plan the state worked so hard for showed it made little improvement as once again injections were botched and at least one inmate suffered before dying on the table.

It's not working and even though the state is facing a lawsuit to challenge the current system of lethal injection, Oklahoma is getting ready to try it again. It's all about timing.

The case filed to challenge Oklahoma to again revise their lethal injection process won't see the inside of a court until late February... there are two inmates on death row scheduled to be executed before then. While it may seem like a move to delay the inevitable, both inmates have requested motions to see their justice carried out instead by firing squad.

In Oklahoma, the inmate sentenced to death gets to choose the manner in which they shall be killed. It seems fair.

Requesting death by firing squad is pretty bold. It has some curious if these inmates are making a statement rather than a simple request for a humane death. Regardless, if the judicial system doesn't act fast, both inmates could face their odds with Oklahoma's famously lousy lethal injection process before the courts have time to consider the requests.

I'll be honest with you, if I ever found myself looking at capital punishment, I think firing squad would be my first choice. Accurate bullets tend to offer instant death plus it's a lot cheaper for the state than injection.

Whether or not there will be enough volunteers to pull triggers is another matter to debate when the time comes.