For some reason I have a feeling they won’t be doing that method of execution where only one rifle is loaded.
I wonder why they’re bothering with a firing squad. Hell, if they want a spectacle just throw the guy to the lions.
Kinda traditional for military executions, isn’t it? That’s how Eddie Slovik got it.
The execution by firing squad was carried out at 10:04 a.m. on January 31, 1945, near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. The defiant Slovik said to the soldiers whose duty it was to prepare him for the firing squad before they led him to the place of execution:
“They’re not shooting me for deserting the United States Army, thousands of guys have done that. They just need to make an example out of somebody and I’m it because I’m an ex-con. I used to steal things when I was a kid, and that’s what they are shooting me for. They’re shooting me for the bread and chewing gum I stole when I was 12 years old.”
As required by military custom, Slovik’s uniform was stripped of all identifying military insignia, buttons, and any other accoutrements. He was wrapped with a GI blanket over his shoulders to protect him against the cold, and led into the courtyard of a house chosen for the execution because of its high masonry wall, which would deflect errant bullets and discourage the local French civilians from witnessing the proceedings. Soldiers stood him against a six-by-six-inch (15 by 15 cm) post. He was then strapped to the post with web belts, with one wrapped around and under his arms and hung on a spike on the back side of the post to prevent his body from slumping following the volley, and the others securing his waist and knees. Just before a soldier placed a black hood over his head, the attending chaplain, Father Carl Patrick Cummings, said to Slovik, “Eddie, when you get up there, say a little prayer for me.” Slovik replied with his last words: “Okay, Father. I’ll pray that you don’t follow me too soon.”
The firing squad consisted of 12 soldiers selected from the 109th Regiment. The weapons used were standard-issue M1 Garand rifles, 11 of them loaded with just one round and one rifle loaded with a blank round.On the command of “Fire”, Slovik was hit by eleven bullets, at least four of them being fatal. The wounds ranged from high in the neck region out to the left shoulder, over the left chest, and under the heart. One bullet was in the left upper arm. An Army physician quickly determined Slovik had not been immediately killed. As the firing squad’s rifles were being reloaded to fire another volley, Slovik died. He was 24 years old. The entire execution took 15 minutes.
Considering what he did, I wouldn’t be surprised if people were lining up to volunteer for the job.
What makes me want to vomit, is that it’s a sure bet that MAGAs will be playing it on a loop while they ‘slap the big-nosed Rasta man’. Not to be flippant, but I really do believe that certain personalities derive sexual pleasure from witnessing deaths and other abuses against other human beings. I am opposed to capital punishment. Other people are not. But the glee is disturbing to me. [Full disclosure: I will be very gleeful at the demise of a certain individual.]
I believe the death penalty is appropriate in certain situations, and Hassan is definitely one of them. Taking pleasure in it is just macabre, though - it ought to be a solemn and serious event, and this admin clearly isn’t gonna be able to accomplish that.
I thought firing squads had 5 or 6 shooters, and all but one was loaded.
I agree.
And, yes, some people are exhilarated and positively festive planning full blown execution watch parties.
It’s alarming and disgusting.
Barbaric, disgusting, alarming, unnecessary … they, and others, all work.
And watch parties? Good Lord, the cruelty really is the point, isn’t it?
Per my cite above, the last time the military executed someone by firing squad, there were twelve gunmen and eleven of them had live rounds.
Well, I can only steal an old Steve Martin joke by saying that I hope this administration can bring America back to what it once was: a vast wasteland covered in ice.
I just got the double meaning the punchline has in the word “ice”. I’m too sick and disgusted by this travesty to care.
We can never go back now. Never.
Back in the the day President Donald Trump intervened in the cases of three American service members convicted or accused of war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq by issuing two pardons and maintaining the rank of one of the service members who’d been demoted ? I guess these were valid murders in his opinion?
AIUI the usual alternative historically was hanging. But I get the feeling there is a dearth of properly assembled scaffolds and of competent hangmen left who know how to do it right, available to the Military Justice system.
And yeah, the Heg probably just feels this would be awesome manly-warrior stuff (hence the livestreaming).
For those responding to my post with the factual reasons for using a firing squad, the point I was trying to make was in the second sentence.
As of a few years ago, the only approved method cited in the Army regulation on executions was lethal injection.
This is the January 2006 revison of Army Regulation 190-55 U.S. Army Corrections System: Procedures for Military Executions
The current revision is from October 2023, but apparently incorporates a hurry-up revision from March 2019.
https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN39031-AR_190-55-000-WEB-1.pdf
Chapter 3 now reads
And the summary of changes lists the following from the 2019 revision:
So, lethal injection until 2019.
My understanding is that the reason for the single blank round is to give plausible deniability to the members of the firing squad (in that none can be sure that they actually shot a live round at the condemned person), while ensuring that the execution is swift and sure.
The opposite (only a single live round) makes no sense. People survive single gunshots all the time, and under the stress of the situation, it’s easy to miss the target completely. Look at the results of the Slovik execution. While he was hit by 11 bullets, only four were adjudged to be fatal.
(And BTW, Slovik was an idiot. He was so thoroughly convinced he’d only get jail time for his desertion that he refused multiple offers of clemency. He basically goaded his commanders and military judges into executing him.)
You mean refused several offers to be sent back into the meatgrinder. “Tear up this note and we’ll let you go back to being shot at, which you were forced to do by a government that ripped you away from your life against your choice”. That isn’t an indicator of his idiocy, it is an indicator of the pure evil of drafted military slavery.
I know I’m out of step with this board on plenty of subjects, but usually I get where people are coming from even if I passionately disagree — but, this time, I’m at a loss.
Do I mind that he’s going to be executed? Not really, no. Do I mind that people will be allowed to watch? Not really, no. Some people will choose not to watch? Okay; that’s their call. Some people will choose to watch? Okay; that’s their call.
So — what the hell am I missing, here? Why wouldn’t it be a matter of indifference to me?
I am 100% opposed to capital punishment in all forms and in all cases because I simply don’t believe that any government anywhere should have the power of life and death as a judicial process. Even less so in a representative government where the court acts on behalf of its citizens.
It’s not a matter of whether the accused deserves it - but I get that argument. It’s not a matter of certainty of guilt - but I get that argument. It’s not even a matter of cruel and unusual punishment, but I certainly get that argument. A matter of indifference? I don’t get that at all.
Personally, I think the Trump Administration presenting an execution as entertainment is… odious, to say the least.
And he didn’t die immediately. (Though it apparently only took a few minutes.)
Exactly what I thought when I saw they were going to stream it.
That they’re presenting killing somebody not as an unfortunate necessity (whether it’s necessary in this case is a separate issue), but as something to be celebrated and/or to be watched for entertainment.