In today's TIMES, there's a fascinating and disturbing article about a death sentence in Utah that was carried out in this Wild West manner just last night. Though it's their first firing squad execution since 1996, it still seems a bit old-fashioned to be pasting a target to an inmates' jumpsuit and having five prison guards give it their best shot. Seriously....that's how it went down. The even stranger twist to all this is that it is the condemned's own choice; it's either firing squad or lethal injection.
Though Utah is no Texas (with a stunning 450 executions since 1977) it is still rather remarkable that this type of punishment and the way it's carried out is still an option.
