Idaho becomes first US state to choose firing squad for execution method

Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a bill on Wednesday that designates a firing squad as the preferred method of execution for capital punishment in Idaho, making it the only state in the US with this designation starting next year.

Just last week, Brad Sigmon, a 67-year-old man from South Carolina, was executed by a firing squad for killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in 2001.

Sigmon was pronounced dead nearly three minutes after being shot by three volunteer prison employees, marking the first use of this method in the US in 15 years.

There are currently nine prisoners on death row in Idaho, but the state has not carried out the death penalty in over a dozen years.

Last year, the state failed to execute Thomas Eugene Creech due to medical personnel being unable to establish an IV line despite trying for an hour.

Over two-thirds of the Republican-controlled legislature supported the bill, which also keeps lethal injection as the state’s backup method.

Idaho Governor Little previously approved a law in 2023 to add execution by firing squad as the backup method, although he initially preferred lethal injection.

Idaho now joins Utah, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Mississippi as states that have legalized the firing squad as an execution method.

Bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug argued that the botched lethal injection of Creech last year highlights the problems with that method, leading to the legalization of the firing squad as an alternative.

The new execution method could impact current death row inmates and future cases like that of Bryan Kohberger, a suspect in the University of Idaho college murders.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Kohberger if he is convicted, as his trial is scheduled for later this year on charges of first-degree murder and burglary.

A judge entered not-guilty pleas on behalf of Kohberger at his arraignment.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.