Florida lawmaker proposes firing squads for death row inmates

By Toluse Olorunnipa, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
In Print: TALLAHASSEE — At least one Florida lawmaker wants to test the limits of cruel and unusual punishment with what he calls a “lead cocktail.”
Rep. Brad Drake, a Republican from the Panhandle town of Eucheeanna, has filed legislation to introduce firing squads to Florida’s death row.
The idea, Drake said, grew out of a recent controversy surrounding the state’s new lethal injection practice. Last month, Manuel Valle was executed with a cocktail of drugs never before used in a Florida execution. The drug pentobarbital knocks inmates unconscious before a second drug paralyzes them and a third stops the heart. Read More