Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Cherlie on May 22, 2003, 04:50:21 PM
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wow , thought all U.S states only used lethal injections!!!
Learn something everyday.....
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- The only state that dispatches condemned inmates by firing squad is assembling gunmen for back-to-back executions next month.
The nation's last execution by firing squad was in 1996.
Exercising their right under Utah law, a serial killer, Roberto Arguelles, and Troy Michael Kell, a white supremacist who stabbed a fellow inmate to death, have chosen the firing squad over lethal injection and are set to die at 12:01 a.m. on June 27 and 28, respectively.
However, Kell filed an appeal last week that will probably halt his execution.
Of the 850 inmates put to death in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, two have died by firing squad, both in Utah: Gary Gilmore in 1977 became the first person executed in the United States after the court's ruling, and John Albert Taylor was put to death 19 years later.
Since 1977, Utah has executed four other killers, all by injection.
Anti-death penalty forces are protesting, arguing that the firing squad amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. And the prison is bracing for large crowds of protesters.
Utah's use of firing squads predates statehood in 1896 and is a remnant of the early Mormon belief that bloodshed is a required punishment for taking a life, said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which says it is neutral about the death penalty but critical of its application.
"Certainly no other state has continued its use or allowed people to choose it. It's the one thing that stands out," Dieter said. "It's part of the history, so there's a reluctance to change."
The notion that murder must be atoned for in blood has never been part of official church doctrine, and the Mormon church has not taken a formal position on execution methods, said Robert Millet, Brigham Young University religion professor.
The Utah Corrections Department is recruiting law enforcement officers for two five-person firing squads, asking the police departments in the communities where the crimes were committed to nominate volunteers.
The officers' identities will not be released, and participants will be barred from talking publicly about the experience.
A hood will be put over the condemned man's head and a target will be pinned over his heart. The executioners will fire simultaneously from gun portals in a separate room at the inmate, seated in a chair about 30 feet away.
One of the five rifles will contain a blank so that no one will know who fired the fatal shots.
In 1992, Arguelles abducted and strangled Margo Bond, a janitor at a junior high school where he had been hunting for teenage victims. He also kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed two girls, ages 13 and 15, and stabbed a 16-year-old girl more than 40 times. He was sentenced to death in 1997. Arguelles has repeatedly said he wants to die.
Kell was convicted in 1996 of killing a black man, Lonnie Blackmon, at the Utah State Prison. Kell, serving time for a previous murder, stabbed Blackmon 67 times with a homemade knife in 1994. A prison videotape shows Kell shouting, "White power!" during the attack.
Utah has 11 men on death row. Besides Arguelles and Kell, two other inmates have chosen to die by firing squad.
CB
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*Raises hand to volunteer as a shooter, What do you want, 7mm or Ought-6?
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Ripsnort *Raises hand to volunteer as a shooter, What do you want, 7mm or Ought-6?
Laugh if you got the blank!
CB
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Originally posted by Cherlie
Laugh if you got the blank!
CB
:p
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rather have firing squad than lethal injection...
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Gary Gilmore got to choose between shootin' and hangin'.
When did Utah wimp out against hangin'? The dead body doesn't care how it was killed.
A condemned prisoner in Washington sued against hangin' a few years ago because he weighed like 400+ lbs, and he thought his head would come off.
As long as it is not prolonged, the actual method seems to be moot. Dead is dead.
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hanging is long...i like the idea of being shot because you dont have time to squirm...nothing makes me feel more like **** than knowing someone had time to realise that there going to die and theres nothing they can do...then it comes...painfully...
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Popular mechanics did an article on the various execution methods a few years ago. They've got an interesting map, showing which are legal in which states. They also give a pretty graphic description of the machines used in the process, such as the formula for rope length used in hanging: 1260 / weight(lb) = length(ft) of drop.
This article is probably 4 years old or so, so things may have changed.
http://popularmechanics.com/science/law_enforcement/1998/1/capital_punishment_tech/index.phtml
Some interesting ones:
Idaho and Utah can use firing squads.
Washington, New Hampshire, Delaware can use hanging.
Arizona, Missouri, North Carolina, and Mississippi can use gas chamber.
9 states are shown as not having death penalty(AK and HI not shown). For some reason, i thought there were more. Maybe the age of the diagram.
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I would say public beheading is the most humane method of capitol punishment.
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Originally posted by 10Bears
I would say public beheading is the most humane method of capitol punishment.
Does it have to be "public" for it to be "humane"?
Just a question.
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Getting shot in the heart is not a quick or painless death. Maybe if they shot you in the brain.
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I think shooting is "lethal injection".
They just use Pb in the injection.
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It seems like a no-brainer to me to would rather have the lethal injection over shooting... or pretty much every other means I can think of. Your brain still functions for a short while after your heart stops beating (gets shot), right? Why are these people choosing the firing squad?
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Originally posted by Nash
It seems like a no-brainer to me to would rather have the lethal injection over shooting... or pretty much every other means I can think of. Your brain still functions for a short while after your heart stops beating (gets shot), right? Why are these people choosing the firing squad?
If they were from the deeper end of the gene pool, maybe they wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place.
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Originally posted by vorticon
hanging is long...i like the idea of being shot because you dont have time to squirm...nothing makes me feel more like **** than knowing someone had time to realise that there going to die and theres nothing they can do...then it comes...painfully...
Boy you must be in terrible torment from the suffering of terminal patients. They are dying a long slow death in many cases and did nothing to deserve it. :rolleyes:
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Originally posted by Toad
I think shooting is "lethal injection".
They just use Pb in the injection.
Even prisons here have death by lethal injection. Clue: AIDS/bestiality.
The US uses three compounds for LI executions. A barbiturate, a muscle relaxant, and the final one - the "active ingredient" in the process, Potassium Chloride.
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Thars bestiality? Resulting in death? In British prisons?
Mad Con Disease?
Thank you very much I'll be here all week.
Seriously... what's up with that?
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Originally posted by Nash
Mad Con Disease?
ROFLMAO
Good one...deserves a
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nope...anyway i was just foolin with you all...try not to take me seriously anymore you just look stupid
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Well I hope at the very least that the state of Utah has respect for historical precedent and uses either the 7.62x54 or 7.92x57 cartridge for this task.
Hooligan
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Originally posted by Hooligan
Well I hope at the very least that the state of Utah has respect for historical precedent and uses either the 7.62x54 or 7.92x57 cartridge for this task.
Hooligan, can you translate that to us old guys that still use the real names?
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imo death sentance is no good...
letting the idiot beeing gang raped for the rest of his life is better.... :D
And if he/she is found to be innocent afterwords he/she has a second chanse.
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If I am ever to be executed I would also choose the firing squad.
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Yeah, that would be the best way to go, execution wise. I want to die in my sleep. That would be a peaceful way to go...naturally.
Les
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Russian or German.
Hooligan
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Is any of your States still using gas chambers ?
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I saw a program on TV about the history of executions in the US. Apparently, the problem with firing squads is that the shooters don't really want to kill anyone and aim to wound rather than kill. They think that the others will make the fatal shot, but none do. The condemned can survive several attempts. When this happens, it really does become cruel and unusual.
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One of the five rifles will contain a blank so that no one will know who fired the fatal shots.
...can we say recoil?
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Originally posted by Jack55
I saw a program on TV about the history of executions in the US. Apparently, the problem with firing squads is that the shooters don't really want to kill anyone and aim to wound rather than kill. They think that the others will make the fatal shot, but none do. The condemned can survive several attempts. When this happens, it really does become cruel and unusual.
Saw the same thing. Jesus that would suck, but it was/is entirely possible, if the deed was bad enough, that they would intentionally shoot the legs,arms,etc to prolong the inmates death. That's the only bad thing about the firing squad. It would probably be the way I'd go out if I had the choice.
__________________
(http://r1329776.hostultra.com/images/nachosig.jpg)
Misty tales and poems lost
All the bliss and beauty will be gone
Will my weary soul find release for a while
At the moment of death I will smile
It's the triumph of shame and disease
In the end Iliad
4,/JG 53 (http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/o/wotans/4JG53/
)
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Originally posted by SaburoS
...can we say recoil?
Most blanks produce recoil.
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Blanks do not produce recoil to anywhere near the same level of a regular shell. Virtually negligable.
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Originally posted by vorticon
hanging is long...i like the idea of being shot because you dont have time to squirm...nothing makes me feel more like **** than knowing someone had time to realise that there going to die and theres nothing they can do...then it comes...painfully...
My opinion is that if we don't have the stomach for public hanging, we probably should not be killing them in the first place.
And if hanging is done to specification, it breaks the spinal cord at the neck, rendering useless all motor ability. ie. no squirming.
Lethal injection just makes it easier for us, not the condemned.
And don't forget, hanging is the most environmentally friendly method {if done with a hemp rope}. No poisons, no waste of energy, no biohazards.
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To those choosing the firing squad... I'm *still* curious... Why would you prefer that method over lethal injection? By the time the poisons got into your system and started wreaking havoc, you'd already be deep asleep. Compare that to the sometime horror stories in firing squad executions...and the fact that who knows at what point you actually lose consciousness.... well like I said, it seems like such a no-brainer that there must be something I'm not considering.
It's interesting to read here that Gary Gilmore (Utah) chose the firing squad. I read either 'The Executioner's Song' by Norman Mailer or 'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote a while back... can't remember which... and I also can't remember why Gilmore chose the firing squad. Does anyone remember?
One more thing... I thought for some reason that if the execution didn't succeed, you got to go free. Is that still a law? er... Was it ever?
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actually id probably just get a cyanide pill the moment i was put on death row...
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If anyone deserves to be shot,it seems those two gentlemen fit the bill. If I was one of the firing squad members,I'd go for a head shot. ...just so I'd know I did'nt have the blank.
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Originally posted by SaburoS
...can we say recoil?
Never fired a rifle before? The range is not sufficient for a miss to be anything but an attempted miss. Its not like they're using black powder rifles with open sites or compound bows. At 50 yards even a novice should be able to produce less than 3" groups with any rifle.
I have no idea why someone would shoot to wound someone being executed... other than to torture him a bit. How does not wanting to execute someone make it ok to maim him first?
Very strange.
MiniD
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Originally posted by Nash
can't remember which... and I also can't remember why Gilmore chose the firing squad. Does anyone remember?
Yes, I remember. Gilmore wanted to die rather than spend an indetermined number of years waiting. He waived appeals that were available to him, and more or less committed assisted suicide by firing squad. The other execution option available to him was a rope.
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Originally posted by Jack55
I saw a program on TV about the history of executions in the US. Apparently, the problem with firing squads is that the shooters don't really want to kill anyone and aim to wound rather than kill. They think that the others will make the fatal shot, but none do. The condemned can survive several attempts. When this happens, it really does become cruel and unusual.
that's why they should use a 30mm rotating cannon...then use a hose to wash off the remains:p :eek:
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Originally posted by udet
that's why they should use a 30mm rotating cannon...then use a hose to wash off the remains:p :eek:
Many B-17 crewmembers will kick your bellybutton in the afterlife.
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Originally posted by Animal
Many B-17 crewmembers will kick your bellybutton in the afterlife.
Imagine how many victims of 7.62mm rifles are there in the afterlife to kick the butts of the people proposing this firing squad...
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At least they did not make some poor sap hose their brain matter out of plexiglass!
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Will this thread ever die?
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Originally posted by Animal
At least they did not make some poor sap hose their brain matter out of plexiglass!
Sure about that? Have you see what a full size 7.62mm rifle/mg round does to a human head?
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Originally posted by Drunky
Will this thread ever die?
By firing Squad, or by lethal injection?
:D