By Aaron Miller-
Two Oklahoma death row inmates facing executions in the coming months have asked for a firing squad as a preferable alternative to the state’s three-drug lethal injection, one of their attorneys told a federal judge on Monday.
Representatives of the two inmates — Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle — have called for U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot to grant them a temporary injunction that would delay their upcoming executions until a trial can be held over whether Oklahoma’s three-drug lethal injection method is constitutional. A trial is set to begin before Friot on Feb. 28, but Grant is scheduled to be put to death on Jan. 27, while Postelle is set for execution on Feb. 17.
Grant was convicted of killing two Del City hotel employees in 2001. Postelle was convicted of targeting and killing four people in 2005 after believing they had injured his father in a motorcycle accident.
Grant, who is set to be put to death on January 27, and Postelle, who is set to be executed on February 17, are hoping their executions are delayed so that a trial will be held over whether Oklahoma’s three-drug lethal injection is constitutional.
“There’s a lot for me to get my mind around,” Friot said on the wait.
After a daylong hearing on Monday, Oklahoma City and attorney Jim Stronski stated his intentions to release an order by the end of the week.
“While it may be gruesome to look at, we all agree it will be quicker,” he told the court.
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Utah also use firing squads to implement execution orders, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Oklahoma is also one of the only states that allows more then two methods of execution with the use of electric chairs and nitrogen hypoxia.
Grant, who is set to be put to death on January 27, and Postelle, who is set to be executed on February 17, are hoping their executions get delayed so that a trial will be held over whether Oklahoma’s three-drug lethal injection is constitutional.
“There’s a lot for me to get my mind around,” Friot said on the wait.
After a daylong hearing on Monday, Oklahoma City and attorney Jim Stronski stated his intentions to release an order by the end of the week.
“While it may be gruesome to look at, we all agree it will be quicker,” he told the court.
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Utah also use firing squads to implement execution orders, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Oklahoma is also one of the only states that allows more then two methods of execution with the use of electric chairs and nitrogen hypoxi
“While it may be gruesome to look at, we all agree it will be quicker,” attorney Jim Stronski told Friot after a daylong hearing in Oklahoma City.
Friot did not issue a decision Monday on the inmates’ motion, but said he hoped to release an order by the end of the week.
“There’s a lot for me to get my mind around,” Friot said.
Among the experts who testified was Dr. James Williams, an emergency medicine specialist from Texas who has more than 40,000 hours of emergency room experience and who has extensively studied the use of firing squads.
Williams- the victim of a gunshot wound to the chest area-testified that a firing squad involving shots from at least four high-powered rifles to the “cardiac bundle” of the heart would be so quick that an inmate wouldn’t feel pain. He added that unlike lethal injection, there is an extremely low likelihood that the execution would be botched.
Oklahoma has never used firing squad as a method of executing prisoners since statehood, but current state law permits its use if other methods, like lethal injection were determined to be unconstitutional or otherwise unavailable. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections does not currently have execution protocols in place for any method other than lethal injection.
Donald Grant is scheduled to be put to death on January 27, 2022Credit: AP
Friot also heard testimony from Justin Farris, chief of operations at the Department of Corrections, about the recent lethal injections of death row inmates John Marion Grant and Bigler Stouffer late last year.
The gurney in the the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla., on Oct . 9, 2014.Sue Ogrocki / AP file
Farris, who was inside the death chamber for both executions, described the two lethal injections as being on “opposite ends of the spectrum.”
Grant convulsed and vomited as he was executed Oct. 28. Weeks later, on Dec. 9, Stouffer was executed seemingly without incident.