After an emotional debate the Wyoming House of Representatives passed a bill that allows the state to execute prisoners by firing squad if drugs for lethal injections remain unavailable.
The House passed the bill 31 to 29. Republican Senator Eric Barlow of Gillette thinks there are still ways to avoid a firing squad. For instance the House version of the bill already requires the prisoner to be unconscious prior to the execution.
"If they are already unconscious it’s only a dosage difference between taking them from unconsciousness to death with the same pharmaceutical."
The Senate voted against the House version of the bill despite the fact that Senator Bruce Burns, the main sponsor of the bill, supports the idea of making the prisoner unconscious. Senators may try another vote next week when four absent members return.
