UPDATE (3/13/25): Idaho will be the only state in the union to use the firing squad as a preferred method of execution. The new law signed by Gov. Brad Little Wednesday doesn’t take effect until July 1, 2026, in order to allow the Idaho Department of Correction to complete necessary upgrades to its execution facilities.
Those changes are already underway following lawmakers' approval of firing squad executions two years ago, but that law only allowed it if lethal injection was not practical.
Five states in the U.S. have the option of firing squad. The first such execution in the United States in 15 years last week in South Carolina was described by an Associated Press reporter as abrupt, fast and violent.
Idaho currently has nine inmates on death row, and Bryan Kohberger is facing the potential death penalty for killing four University of Idaho students in 2022. His trial begins later this year.
ORIGINAL STORY: The firing squad is steps away from becoming Idaho’s primary execution method.
State senators passed the bill after a short debate Wednesday, with one Republican joining six Democrats in opposing it.
Right now, the firing squad is Idaho's secondary method of execution if state corrections officials can't obtain drugs to carry out a lethal injection.
Idaho has had trouble executing its death row inmates in recent years.
That includes an attempt last year to kill Thomas Creech. Corrections staff failed to find a suitable vein after eight tries.
Sen. Brian Lenney (R-Nampa) said opponents calling the firing squad barbaric should closely look at crimes committed by death row inmates, like Creech.
“He killed at least [five people] that we know of, according to his own words, possibly up to 42 people. One of them he beat to death with a sock full of batteries,” Lenney said.
Turning away from the lethal injection method, Lenney and other supporters said, would avoid lengthy legal appeals that can currently span decades.
He said the firing squad is also a more humane way to execute an inmate.
“With a [.30 caliber] rifle bullet traveling somewhere around 3,000 feet per second, the death is instantaneous and, in this case, I think it’s an act of mercy.”
Sen. Dan Foreman (R-Viola), a retired police officer, said he believes the state “is on the verge of making a big mistake.”
“Projecting a piece of metal at 3,200 feet per second, give or take, through the human body is anything but humane,” said Foreman. “I can say that because I’ve seen it. I wished I hadn’t seen it.”
House lawmakers passed the same bill nearly one month ago.
The Idaho Department of Correction has yet to build a facility where it could stage executions via firing squad. Legislators budgeted $750,000 for the project two years ago.
Rep. Bruce Skaug (R-Nampa), another of the bill’s sponsors, said IDOC would likely need more money to construct the facility, but said the agency could cover that gap within its existing budget.
The governor will have until next week to make a decision on the bill.
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