Death Penalty: When it Should Be Permanently Removed

Enough verbiage about the death penalty has been written to fill a small building, assuming legal size paper and 12 point type, double spaced.  Maybe two small buildings.  I've read enough about appeals and new evidence to be convinced that our court system has absolutely no business sentencing anyone to death.  Too many exceptions exist, new evidence is discovered, and the courts often refuse to test DNA evidence.  Heaven help us all if one of these judges should assist in wrongfully convicting someone - which has happened so often that it's no real surprise anymore.  But I'm not going to write about that part, mainly because I have no good solution and I'm neither an attorney nor a doctor of philosophy.


Nope.

What I'm writing about today is the methodology the State of Ohio is using, which might well be cruel and unusual punishment.  From the happy publishers at Cleveland dot com we have Ohio Plans to Resume Executions in January with New Drug Cocktail
From the article:

The state will use the drugs midazolam, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

Which is idiotic.  There is no guarantee that midazolam will cause the intended prisoner to lose consciousness, and since rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride are quite painful if administered by themselves, the prisoner is likely to suffer horribly for at least ten minutes.  Which, quite frankly, is not going to cause many people to lose any sleep.  Others... not so much.

My thought, which I've expressed before, is to use a firing squad.  Six adult shooters who willingly volunteer for this duty use a .30 caliber rifle in good lighting at a ridiculously short range, and one volley later we've got the remains of the day to dispose of.  No special equipment is needed, no elaborate ceremony takes place, we don't even need any medical personnel involved.

Consider this no good murderous son-of-a-bitch for a second.


Courtesy of WLWT5 we have 8 Condemned Ohio Killers Receive New Execution Dates
From the article:

Jeffrey Wogenstahl, sentenced to die for kidnapping 10-year-old Amber Garrett from her western Cincinnati suburban home in 1991, taking her to a secluded area and stabbing her to death. Wogenstahl had already received an execution delay from the Ohio Supreme Court.
Previous execution date: Sept. 13.
New execution date: April 17, 2019.

Now then, go into any bar or gun club in Cleveland and advertise for firing squad volunteers.  In ten minutes I'll bet you'd collect a dozen, and each one of them would offer to bring his own rifle and ammunition, thus saving the State a few bucks.  This is a tried and true method, as the firing squad has been around for a long time, it always works, and it's always over with quickly.  Ready, aim, fire - and the coroner collects the corpse and we can all go home.

But here's the best part.

Many people think the death penalty is barbaric and should be eliminated altogether, everywhere, once and for all.  And, given the way the State of Ohio screws everything up, I'm inclined to give their arguments some credence.  The thing about the firing squad is this: If you go out and can't find six volunteers for a firing squad, that is when the death penalty should be eliminated.

I've often thought that the judge, prosecutor, and jury who sentenced the SOB to death should be the ones to carry out the sentence, but perhaps not.  Instead, use the firing squad and ask for volunteers.  On the day that you can't find six, the death penalty is a thing of the past.

Credit to Big Mike for putting this idea in my head.