Quote:
Originally posted by AlphaSigOU
Utah is one of the few states that allows the condemned their choice of execution: lethal injection, hanging or firing squad.
The way the firing squad execution protocol works is that all but one or two of the rifles in the firing party are loaded with blanks; the live rounds are loaded at random and out of sight of the firing party so no one person can say "I fired the fatal bullet". They fire at a target pinned to the heart of the condemned. Surprisingly, with a firing squad execution, there's a greater probability that the condemned's body could be donated to science or for organ transplant (except for the heart), unlike other forms of execution. That was Gary Gilmore's request when he was executed in 1977.
Recommend reading Norman Mailer's The
Executioner's Song for a more detailed account of the Gilmore case and execution.
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Sorry, it is the heart, wasn't sure, I thought it was the head.....