Firing squad bill moves to House

BOISE — A committee advanced a bill Monday to potentially make Idaho the only state to use the firing squad as its primary method of execution.

The House Judiciary and Rules Committee voted on party lines to send to the House floor HB 37, which would place the firing squad as the first method of execution over lethal injection for carrying out a death sentence, starting in July 2026.

The Legislature in 2023 passed a bill to add the firing squad as a secondary method of execution if the chemicals for lethal injection could not be obtained.

“In my view, the firing squad is more humane because it is quick and it is certain,” Bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, said.

Four people testified in opposition to the bill, arguing that the firing squad was unnecessarily violent, barbaric, and one testifier called it “Wild West justice.” Three people spoke in support, arguing it would be quicker and more effective than lethal injection.

The failed execution of Thomas Creech in February 2024 was underscored as a reason for switching the primary method. The 2022 canceled death warrant of Gerald Pizzuto due to lack of chemicals needed for lethal injection was also highlighted.

Deputy Attorney General LaMont Anderson, chief of the state capital litigation unit, said that no court has found the firing squad unconstitutional, and said that all of the state’s litigation regarding the death penalty has been about the lethal injection method. Pizzuto in 2021 filed a lawsuit against the state, saying that executing him with pentobarbital would react poorly to his existing medical conditions and constitute cruel and unusual punishment, Idaho Public Television reported.

“Bullets aren’t going to react with medication,” Anderson said. “We’re not going to have that problem.”

Diana David, Idaho chapter leader of Survivors Empowered, said that as a survivor of gun violence, she opposed use of the firing squad and its impact on the person killed as well as those who witnessed it, including Department of Correction staff.

“As someone who has witnessed what bullets do to a human being, it’s brutal. It’s gruesome,” David said. “It’s violent on the most evil level you can imagine.”

Boise resident Daniel Murphy supported the bill, and said that those who want to abolish the death penalty do it by opposing different methods, such as hanging, the electric chair and the gas chamber.

He said the firing squad is “cheap, fast, and the condemned won’t even know what hit him or her.”

Twin Falls resident Kate Lopez testified against the bill, arguing, “just because this method of death is legal, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”

“To make this method of execution the primary method used by Idaho will put an indelible stain on our state,” Lopez said. “Who wants to visit and spend tourism dollars in a state with Wild West justice? Is that what we want to be known for?”

Utah is the only state that has executed someone by firing squad in the last 50 years, data from the Death Penalty Information Center shows. Five states, including Idaho, authorize the method, but in all of them there is another method listed as the primary. All of these states lists lethal injection as the primary method — with the exception of South Carolina, which has the electric chair as its primary method, with the option to choose death by firing squad or lethal injection if available.

South Carolina since September has executed three inmates via lethal injection, including one last week, ABC15 reported.

Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, noted the South Carolina execution and the fact the state was able to obtain the needed chemicals. He also highlighted that the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) has been appropriated $750,000 to remodel a facility to carry out firing squad executions, but has estimated the project will cost nearly $1 million, the Idaho Capital Sun has reported.

Skaug said IDOC will be able to pay for the rest of the renovations in its existing budget without asking for more money from the Legislature.

He said the director will be tasked with deciding on the policy for carrying out the executions.

The committee voted 12-2 with the two Democrats present, Gannon and Rep. Chris Mathias, of Boise, voting no.

The bill goes 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.