US inmate chooses to die by firing squad

A CONDEMNED US inmate’s decision to die today in a barrage of bullets fired by five unnamed marksmen was vilified by many as an archaic form of Wild West-style justice.

But some experts argue it is more humane than all other execution methods, without the court challenges of cruelty that plagued lethal injection.

“Lethal injection, which has the veneer of medical acceptability, has far greater risks of cruelty to a condemned person,” said Fordham University Law School professor Deborah Denno, who has written extensively on the constitutional questions that surround execution methods.