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SALT LAKE CITY — Firing squads could become legal again in Utah.
A House committee approved a bill Wednesday that would allow the state to convene a firing squad when the drugs necessary for lethal injection are not available. Pharmaceutical companies in Europe that oppose the death penalty refuse to sell the drugs to prisons in the United States.
"This bill just says we have a backup," said Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield. "Hopefully, we never have to use it."
Ray's legislation says the method of execution is the firing squad if a court determines the state can't lawfully buy the substances for lethal injection 30 or more days before the date on the death warrant.
"This bill deals with how do we, for lack of a better word, execute the death penalty," he said.
A law passed in 2004 eliminated death by firing squad in Utah, but those on death row who requested such a death prior to the new law still have the option. Ray's bill would not restore that option for death row inmates.
The House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee passed the bill 9-2.
Rep. Mark Wheatley, D-Murray, voted against the measure, saying it doesn't solve a problem.
“We are going backward here in Utah when we should be making progress. This is not a proactive approach. This is reactionary. We are not proposing real solutions. We are hiding behind outdated and ineffective policies," Wheatley said.
This bill just says we have a backup. Hopefully, we never have to use it.
–Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield
Ray said the proposed law would pre-empt long legal battles over the types of drugs that might be used for an execution. If the state were to try to use drugs that aren't spelled out in the law, defense attorneys could challenge them as unproven and ineffective.
"We could take this out for years and millions of dollars arguing the drug," he said.
Though Ray said he hopes the state doesn't have to use a firing squad, he believes it is more humane than the electric chair, hanging or lethal injection.
"It's an instant death," he said. "A lot of these folks are dead before they even hear the gun."
Jean Hill, government liaison for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, spoke against the bill because she said the church opposes the death penalty.
"We don't believe there's a humane way to execute anyone," she said. "Putting people behind a wall to shoot someone is not humane."
Hill said the state's role isn't to take revenge on people but to ensure public safety.
