Idaho , moved another step closer Thursday to becoming the only , U. S.  , position with a , firing squad as its lead , strategy for carrying out the death penalty.
Along a roughly party-line voting, the Republican-controlled , Idaho House , largely passed , House Bill 37, by a 58-11 count. Two , GOP , people joined the House’s nine , Democrats , in opposition following restricted conversation. The bill then moves to the , Senate , for attention.
Rep.  , Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, is the president’s head partner. He claimed that he supported the bill because he believes that lethal injection, a prisoner’s recent method of execution, is a “more compassionate way” to end a prisoner’s life. The fire crew even may result in less dispute, he said.
” This is a rule of law issue. It’s already been decided that these individuals may get put to death for their terrible crimes— and they are terrible crimes”, Skaug, a resigned personal injury attorney, said during the president’s display Thursday. This does not in any manner prevent those facing the death penalty and who have been found guilty. Although there will still be fewer appeals concerns, the procedure is still ongoing.
The Federal Defender Services of , Idaho, the legitimate nonprofit that represents most of the nine people on , Idaho’s death column, did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from the , Idaho Statesman.
The act also comes a time after , Idaho , failed to execute a prisoner , for the first time in state story. When the country’s implementation group attempted for nearly an hour, but they could not get a spirit for an IV in the 73-year-old prisoner’s system, prison officers called off the lethal injections.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho , voiced serious problem about Skaug’s costs.
” The ACLU opposes the death penalty in any form as we believe state-sanctioned killing violates a person’s Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment” , , ACLU of Idaho , spokesperson , Rebecca De León , said in a statement to the Statesman. We contend that all methods of execution are cruel and unusual because they have all been abused at some point, resulting in tragic and horrifying circumstances for all involved.
Of , the 27 U. S. states , that still have money abuse, five — including , Idaho , — have a fire club on their books as a back execution method. The others are  , South Carolina,  , Oklahoma,  , Utah , and , Mississippi.  , Utah , was next to carry out the death sentence with the contentious process, in 2010.
Skaug also , carried the bill , that , became rules in 2023 , to bring back the firing squad as Idaho’s supply execution method. A fire crew was formerly incorporated into state laws, but it was removed in 2009. A fire club has never before been used in , Idaho , to kill a slave.
Despite the previous law moving about two years ago, the , Idaho Department of Correction , has yet to confirm a protocol for probable firing squad executions, agency spokesperson , Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic , said in an email to the Statesman. Skaug told House members Thursday that he spoke privately with IDOC Director , Josh Tewalt , about what those protocols will look like.
According to Skaug, Tewalt told him,” He plans to do a mechanized version of the firing squad, so there won’t be a lineup of people holding rifles.” ” It’ll be button-activated for the rifles”.
IDOC does not have any specifics to share at this time, Kuzeta-Cerimagic said. But, the agency is” considering the use of a remote-operated weapons system alongside traditional firing squad methods”, she said.
Execution upgrades priced at more than$ 1 million
If the firing squad bill becomes law, it wouldn’t take effect until , July 2026. Till then, lethal injections would remain the state’s preferred method of execution, giving IDOC ample time to get ready for a firing squad. Construction at the maximum security prison south of , Boise , would take about six months, Skaug said on the House floor.
That 2023 law , sponsored by Skaug provided$ 750, 000 to IDOC to renovate its existing execution chamber to accommodate a firing squad. But a recent estimate placed that cost at , more than$ 950, 000. IDOC also tapped the same fund last fall for about$ 314, 000 to upgrade the execution chamber to a “preparation room” so that lethal injection or firing squad executions can be carried out in the future.
The overall cost of upgrading the execution chamber is anticipated to rise past$ 1 million. Regardless, the state prison system does not plan to request additional appropriations from the Legislature for construction, Kuzeta-Cerimagic said.
In 2022,  , South Carolina , retrofitted its execution chamber to provide for a firing squad at a cost of about$ 54, 000, according to , The Associated Press.
Rep.  , John Gannon, D-Boise, an attorney, voted against the bill Thursday. He pointed out that other states that have executed people to death by lethal injection and questioned how taxpayers could have justified spending that much money to rebuild the execution chamber in fiscally conservative Idaho.
” The expense to this is getting to be considerable”, Gannon said. ” Now, we’re learning that this is going to cost well over$ 1 million. … You can build a gorgeous, gorgeous mansion for$ 1 million, and I don’t know why a firing squad facility is costing so much”.
On Wednesday, a Republican state senator introduced a bill that would allow women who seek an abortion to be , charged with murder, among other crimes.  , Idaho , already has some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, and the bill included no exceptions for rape or incest.
The abortion bill won’t be heard in public or be advanced for a full vote, according to Senate GOP  leadership. With some rare exceptions, a person must be convicted of first-degree murder in , Idaho , to be eligible for the death penalty.
House Minority Leader , Steve Berch, D-Boise, took the opportunity Thursday during floor debate on the firing squad bill to draw attention to the potential nexus.
Berch told fellow House members,” The possibility of executing a woman who has an abortion by firing squad is not my definition of humane.”
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