End firing squad executions

Utah needs to do away with the firing squad as a means of execution. When the Utah Legislature convenes later this month, it needs to act quickly to establish lethal injection as the state's only method of execution. This would be consistent with most other states and give the state a more dignified means of carrying out the death sentence.

As it stands, Utah's death-row inmates are given a choice between lethal injection and the firing squad. Some condemned killers opt for the firing squad because they perceive that such an execution enables them to go out in a blaze of glory. Others choose this option because they want to render their executions as difficult as possible for the state.

Why should condemned killers be given that option? The simple truth is, the firing squad elevates condemned murderers to an undeserved status. What tends to happen is the victims, the heinous crime and the pain of the survivors is overshadowed by the state putting a condemned man or woman to death by firing squad.

Sen. Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park, and Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, are co-sponsoring legislation to ban the firing squad as a means of execution in Utah. The proposed legislation, which has the support of the Utah Sentencing Commission and the Utah Sheriffs Association, deserves the support of the Legislature as well.

While it may be difficult to restrict death-row inmates who have already selected firing squad as their means of execution under a new prohibition, the Legislature needs to eliminate this choice in the future.

As Allen told the Deseret Morning News: "It becomes the criminal's one last magnificent manipulation."

The state's primary concern should be carrying out a death sentence with the greatest degree of dignity of all. While some death penalty opponents use these occasions to draw attention to the issue, the state's interests can hardly be considered political. Rather, it is carrying out a sentence handed down by a jury and subject to numerous appeals. As such, the means of execution should be determined by the state