Legislator seeks to add alternative to lethal injection

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A bill proposed in Tennessee seeks to allow an alternative to lethal injection.

House Bill 1245, by Rep. Dennis Powers, seeks to allow those on death row the option for the firing squad.

“It simply gives the [Department of Correction] the opportunity to add a firing squad as a method of execution for a person who has been given the death penalty. That’s all this bill does,” Powers stated to the Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday.

Powers says the option would not be mandatory, nor would it be the primary option.

“And so if there are fewer executions done by the state, you know, that would be great. If we don’t have to use anything, if we had fewer people on death row, but right now we do. And right now we need to have another option for them,” Powers said.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, of Knoxville, raised concerns that it could be “cruel and unusual punishment.”

“It is now being heard, as I understand, by the Supreme Court in South Carolina,” Johnson said.

Johnson also mentioned that Tennessee has already moved away from the electric chair for similar reasons.

“Tennessee stopped using the electric chair because for these reasons. That’s why most states stopped for some time, and I just feel like this is a move backwards for Tennessee,” Johnsons said.

“Capital punishment is not unconstitutional, and neither is this bill. And this bill does create another option for the Department of Correction. The firing squad is actually used in three other states other than South Carolina,” Powers replied to Johnson.

Powers says there is a need to remember victims of violent crimes, and not just the perpetrator.

Johnson replied, saying that we, as a society, can ensure that by “making sure they are not in society.”

The bill passed the Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday, and will continue into the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee.

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