He also said that, unlike lethal injection, there is an extremely low likelihood that the execution would be botched. Williams, himself the victim of a gunshot wound to the chest area, testified that a firing squad involving shots from at least four high-powered rifles to the “cardiac bundle” of the heart would be so quick that an inmate wouldn’t feel pain. “There’s a lot for me to get my mind around,” he said.Īmong the experts who testified was James Williams, an emergency medicine specialist from Texas who has more than 40,000 hours of emergency room experience and who has extensively studied the use of firing squads. More than two dozen death row inmates who are plaintiffs in the challenge agreed previously to provide the court with an alternative method of execution among those authorized under Oklahoma law.įriot said he hoped to release an order by the end of the week. “While it may be gruesome to look at, we all agree it will be quicker,” attorney Jim Stronski told Friot earlier this week after a hearing in Oklahoma City. Grant, who is scheduled to die on 27 January, and Postelle, who has a 17 February execution date, had not previously selected an alternative method. A trial on the issue is set to begin before Friot on 28 February, but the judge has said in order to be added as plaintiffs, inmates must select an alternative method of execution.

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