A new law will make death by firing squad the primary way Idaho executes prisoners on death row.
Idaho has eight people on death row and was supposed to perform an execution in December but couldn’t get the chemicals required for lethal injection.
So lawmakers in the Idaho legislature decided death by firing squad would be the better option.
Whenever someone is executed, a few journalists act as witnesses and report on what happened. It’s an incredibly difficult job, and those who do it are profoundly changed by what they see.
Dr. Jeff Spurlock is a professor at Boise State University and the associate chair of integrated media. 25 years ago he worked at Sam Houston State University and was a witness to the execution of Michael Lee McBride. He recently wrote an article about what he saw and how it changed him, and he joined Idaho Matters to talk more about his experience.
