Bill to bring back firing squads advances

BOISE — As Idaho struggles to be able to get the needed ingredients for lethal injections, a lawmaker is proposing the state bring back the firing squad as an alternative.

The House Ways and Means Committee introduced the legislation Wednesday morning.

“The way it stands now, they may never get the materials for the lethal injection,” said bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa. “It may be indefinite.”

The legislation would add firing squad as a secondary method of execution when the lethal injection is unavailable. In November, the Idaho Department of Correction called off the planned execution of Gerald Pizzuto after the state was unable to obtain the chemicals needed for lethal injection.

Pizzuto was sentenced to death for two 1985 murders, in which he bludgeoned to death Berta Herndon and her nephew, Delbert, during a robbery at their mountain cabin. Last year, Pizzuto was deemed terminally ill and sought clemency. The Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole commuted his sentence to life in prison, but Gov. Brad Little rejected the recommendation, and the Idaho Supreme Court upheld the governor’s ability to do so, prompting the death warrant, according to past reporting.

In a Nov. 30 memo, Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt wrote, “While our efforts to secure chemicals remain ongoing, I have no reason to believe our status will change prior to the scheduled execution on December 15, 2022. In my professional judgement, I believe it is in the best interest of justice to allow the death warrant to expire and stand down our execution preparation.”

Skaug said other states have reinstituted the firing squad as well. Idaho legally allowed firing squads from 1982 to 2009 but never used the method in that time, Idaho Reports previously reported.

Idaho hasn’t carried out an execution since 2012, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Skaug said this legislation will allow the state to administer the sentences it hands down.

“This is a rule-of-law issue,” he said. “Our criminal system should work, and our penalties should be exacted.”

House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, asked if firing squads met requirements of the Eighth Amendment that punishments not be cruel and unusual.

Skaug said, in his opinion, the method was more humane because lethal injections can be botched. A December 2022 Death Penalty Information Center report found that more than a third of lethal injection attempts were botched.

The bill was introduced with only Assistant Minority Leader Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, voting against. It will require a hearing before moving to the full House for a vote.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.