Utah to resume use of firing squad for executions

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Utah will resume the use of firing squads to carry out the death penalty when lethal injections drugs are not available.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed the measure into law on Monday. The move makes Utah the only US state to use firing squads as a method of execution. Some US states are considering alternative execution methods as they struggle to obtain lethal injection drugs amid a nationwide shortage. Drug inventories dwindled after European manufacturers opposed to capital punishment refused to sell the lethal concoctions. Civil rights groups have said use of firing squads makes Utah "look backward and backwoods". Governor Herbert finds the firing squad "a little bit gruesome,'' but said the state needs a back-up execution method. "We prefer to use our primary method of lethal injection when such a sentence is issued," the governor's spokesman Marty Carpenter told the Associated Press. "However, when a jury makes the decision and a judge signs a death warrant, enforcing that lawful decision is the obligation of the executive branch."

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