Wyoming lawmakers mull firing squad for executions

photo The firing squad execution chamber at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah, is shown in this 2010, file photo. In the wake of a bungled execution in Oklahoma last month, a Utah lawmaker wants to resurrect firing squads as a method of execution in his state.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Wyoming lawmakers are considering changing state law to permit execution of condemned inmates by firing squad.

A Wyoming legislative committee has directed its staff to draft a firing-squad bill for consideration ahead of next year's legislative session.

Bob Lampert is director of the Wyoming Department of Corrections. He says drugs for lethal injection have become increasingly difficult to obtain.

Wyoming has only one inmate on death row: 69-year-old Dale Wayne Eaton is pressing a federal appeal of the state court death penalty he received in 2004 for the murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Montana.

A Utah lawmaker recently announced that he intends to introduce firing-squad legislation in his state's next legislative session in January.

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