House OKs putting end to firing-squad option

Execution by firing squad was shot down by the House of Representatives Monday, passing a bill to make lethal injection the sole means of carrying out Utah's death penalty.

The House passed the bill 57-15, after only a short debate. Most members said they supported Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, in her effort to change the existing law, which allows the condemned to select between death by lethal injection or firing squad.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

Currently three of the 10 men on Utah's death row have selected the firing squad. Each time the method has been used — last in January 1996 for the execution of John Albert Taylor — it draws unwanted international media attention to the state.

"We have a media blitz when we have the firing squad," said Allen, who unsuccessfully carried a similar bill after Taylor's execution. "Utah is a grand and wonderful, joyful place to live. When we get international media it should be for the goodness of our people, beauty of the state and not the method of execution."

But Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who voted against the bill, said the spotlight serves a purpose in that it sends a clear message to those who would commit capital crimes.

"I fear we want to sanitize the process. To deter crime, I think (executions) should be something that we do know about," Hughes said.

Even if HB180 becomes law, there's a chance Utah might still use the firing squad again. Though Allen's bill is retroactive, the three men on death row who want to die by a shot through the heart could appeal their right to do so in court. The bill does allow the state to empanel a firing squad should an appeal be upheld.

Allen said she had been assured that appeals of the change should not add significant time to the already exhaustive appeals process. Two of the three condemned selecting the firing squad — Troy Kell and Taberone Dave Honi — still have numerous avenues for appeal to pursue. Ralph Menzies, the third man, has only a federal appeal available to him, but a district court judge is expected to rule in February whether Menzies continues to have a state appeal available because one of his attorneys made mistakes.

Defense attorney Ron Yengich said Monday that although he had not studied the bill, he would most certainly challenge its retroactivity, were he representing one of the capital defendants.

Defendants choose the firing squad for a variety of reasons, he said. "There have been a couple in the past that have bought into the blood atonement issue. I think some have made the choice to make it as painful as possible for those carrying it out," said Yengich, who added that he personally is opposed to the death penalty.