REGIONAL: Two inmates on death row seek firing squad over lethal injection

File / eExtra News

Two Oklahoma inmates who are on death row are seeking to get the firing squad rather than lethal injection when their time is up.

Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle, the two inmates, are pleading with U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot to delay their upcoming executions until a trial in Oklahoma is held regarding the three-drug lethal injection method and whether or not it is constitutional. The trial is currently set for Feb. 28, however, Grant is set for execution on Jan. 27 and Postelle is set for Feb. 17.

Friot is considering their request and said during a day-long hearing this week in Oklahoma City that there is a lot to “get [his] mind around,” regarding the requests.

Experts testified during the hearing, including Dr. James Williams, who has more than 40,000 hours of emergency room experience, and who has studied the use of firing squads. Williams testified that a firing squad involves shots from at least four high-powered rifles to the cardiac bundle of the heart would be quick enough that the inmate wouldn’t feel pain. He also said there would be an extremely low likelihood that the firing squad execution would be botched – unlike with lethal injection, he said.

Since statehood, Oklahoma has never used a firing squad as a method of executing prisoners. Instead, it currently uses lethal injection, however that is now being questioned whether or not it is constitutional.