By HEATHER LARSE
Today is the 19th anniversary of the last firing squad execution in Utah. The next firing squad execution is scheduled for Jan. 26.
John Albert Taylor, 36, was convicted of slaying an 11-year-old girl from Washington Terrace in 1989. In December, Taylor decided to forgo his remaining appeals and chose the firing squad over lethal injection.
Gary Gilmore was the last man to be executed by firing squad in Utah. He was executed on Jan. 17, 1977 for multiple killings in Provo. Utah has conducted 48 executions since 1852, 39 by firing squad.
According to a press release, L. Kay Gillespie, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at Weber State University, predicts this execution will be the last by firing squad allowed in the United States.
Gillespie said if Taylor’s scheduled death is delayed for any reason, the law will be changed before the convict can be put to death. The legislative session began Monday.
However, a spokesperson in the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel in the State Department said no amendments are being made to the Utah death penalty that involve firing squad executions.
“Utah is the only state with a viable law allowing executions by firing squad. Idaho law references firing-squad executions as a backup option but a technicality does not allow them. With Utah being chosen to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the world is watching our conduct here very closely. I don’t believe Utahns want the publicity of a firing squad execution right now,” Gillespie said in the press release.
Gillespie said human rights organizations like Amnesty International are involved in changing the Utah death penalty. Richard N. Holzapfel, a religion professor at BYU and a member of Amnesty International, said he is concerned with the death penalty when it is political rather than criminal.
Many concerns about firing-squad executions deal with the time, place and manner in which they are conducted. Executions have take place in tents, wagons, basements of buildings and door openings. Sometimes the target was missed by one or two of the four to six rifles used. This slowed the death rate which has ranged from 15.4 seconds to 27 minutes.
