Nancy Grace on proposal to bring back firing squads: 'There’s no pretty way to die'
Nancy Grace agreed that a proposal by a Wyoming lawmaker to bring back firing squads was worthy of consideration.
The HLN host said she understood why Republican State Sen. Bruce Burns introduced legislation endorsing firing squads as a backup to the state’s lethal injection method, rather than a costly gas chamber – which Wyoming does not currently have.
“There’s no pretty way to die,” Grace told CNN Brooke Baldwin on Wednesday. “If you agree that a jury should be given the alternative of a death penalty, it’s not – you know, it ain’t no tea party, Brooke. We’re talking about the death penalty.”
Grace said most states use a three-drug cocktail to put prisoners to death, and she said those drugs are becoming harder to obtain.
“There’s also fear that at some point, lethal injection may be declared cruel and inhuman, and that would make it unconstitutional,” she said.
But Grace agreed with Baldwin that firing squads are barbaric, noting that only two states – Oklahoma and Utah – currently permit their use in limited circumstances.
“Utah has limited their firing squad to people that were sentenced to it before 2004, so we’re really only talking about Oklahoma that even considers the firing squad right now,” she said.
Grace said that there were only three humane options for executing prisoners: lethal injection, gas chamber and firing squads.
“Of course, I would not recommend ‘old sparky,’” she told a cringing Baldwin. “The electric chair? Yeah, that’s kind of a friendly name. I would under no circumstances recommend we reinstitute ‘old sparky’ – too many problems. So that leaves you with lethal injection, gas chamber and firing squad.”
She said firing squads should at least be considered as an alternative, although she said it wasn’t as cheap as proponents like to claim.
“The argument is that firing squad is quick and easy and it costs about $25,000 to pull it off, even though a bullet costs you 99 cents,” Grace said.
Lethal injection is the most humane means of putting prisoners to death, Grace said, although she argued that the process should be easier than it appears to be.
“It’s not about making the person physically suffer,” she said. “It’s about the death penalty, and -- if we can put a man on the moon, there’s got to be a way – even if it brings on more expense – to put a person to sleep before they receive the death penalty.”
“I mean, how hard can it be?” Grace said as Baldwin winced. “You go under the knife all the time! Juice them up with propofol, for Pete’s sake, but why would we want anyone to suffer? Even someone that’s been convicted of murder. That’s not what our system is about.”
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