TPMMuckraker

FL GOPer’s Bill Would Let Death Row Inmates Choose Death By Firing Squad

Jillian Rayfield October 12, 2011, 2:03 PM

Florida State Rep. Brad Drake (R) is pushing a bill that would eliminate execution by lethal injection for death row inmates — and replace it with execution by firing squad.

Drake said in a statement Tuesday that his bill is a response to debate over the effectiveness of the cocktail of drugs currently used for lethal injections. “So, I say let’s end the debate,” he said. “We still have Old Sparky. And if that doesn’t suit the criminal, then we will provide them a .45 caliber lead cocktail instead.”

Some states, like Florida, still allow death row inmates to choose between electrocution and lethal injection. Drake’s bill would replace the lethal injection option with a firing squad. According to the bill, the number of members of the firing squad would be decided by the warden.

Drake said he got the idea from a fellow patron at a local Waffle House, whom he overheard making the suggestion.”There shouldn’t be anything controversial about a .45-caliber bullet. If it were up to me we would just throw them off the Sunshine Skyway bridge and be done with it,” Drake said, The Florida Current reports.

From the release, Drake explained his motivation behind the bill:

Recently in Florida, doctors and legal experts were petitioning Governor Rick Scott to delay and or not use his executive authority to order execution by using Pentobarbital as one of the three drugs mixed into the lethal injection. They were fearful of extreme suffering of the 61 year old convicted murderer, Manuel Valle.
Valle, a Cuban national, had been on death row for 33 years for killing a law enforcement officer who stopped him for a traffic infringement in Miami back in 1978.

“I am sick and tired of this sensitivity movement for criminals,” Drake said. “Every time there is a warranted execution that is about to take place, some man or woman is standing on a corner holding a sign, yelling and screaming for humane treatment. However, I have no desire to humanely respect those that are inhumane.”