Post by Graveyardbride on Jan 13, 2020 8:47:47 GMT -5
Georgia Death Row Inmate Requests Firing Squad
A Georgia death row inmate has sued the state’s prison system requesting death by firing squad as opposed to lethal injection, alleging his veins are narrow and the state-mandated method would cause him “excruciating pain.” Michael Wade Nance (above) was sentenced to death in 2002 for fatally shooting a man during a car-jacking in Lilburn.
According to the lawsuit, Nance’s veins are “severely compromised” and difficult to locate, leading to the possibility said veins would lose their integrity and leak pentobarbital – the drug used in lethal injections – into the surrounding tissue. “Execution by firing squad is both swift and virtually painless,” the lawsuit claims. “Evidence and recent experience strongly suggest that the firing squad is significantly more reliable than lethal injection.” Nance also has been taking drugs for back pain, which the lawsuit says has altered his brain chemistry and could disrupt the effectiveness of pentobarbital, leading to a “prolonged execution that will produce excruciating pain.”
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter called the request is “unique,” adding, “If he needs a firing squad, then let him have it.”
Lori Benoit, a Georgia State Department of Corrections spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
Death by firing squad is a method of execution that has been used three times since 1976 and is offered as an alternate method of execution in only three states: Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah. Ronnie Lee Gardner, a Utah inmate convicted of murder in 1985, was the last person to be executed by firing squad on June 18, 2010.
In July, U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr announced the federal government would resume capital punishment and execute five death row inmates for the first time in 15 years.
Source: David Aaro, Fox News, January 13, 2020.