New rules for executions may allow gas, firing squads

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is quietly amending its execution protocols, no longer requiring federal death sentences to be carried out by injection and clearing the way to use other methods like firing squads and poison gas.

The amended rule, published Friday in the Federal Register, allows the U.S. government to conduct executions by injection or use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed.”

A number of states allow other methods of execution, including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad.

The rule — which goes into effect Dec. 24 — comes as the Justice Department has scheduled five executions during the lameduck period, including three just days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

A Justice Department official said the change was made to account for the fact the Federal Death Penalty Act requires sentences be carried out in the “in the manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence is imposed,” and some of those states use methods other than lethal injection.

The official said the federal government “will never execute an inmate by firing squad or electrocution unless the relevant state has itself authorized that method of execution.”

The official said two executions scheduled in December would be done by injection but didn’t provide information about three others scheduled in January.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

The change is likely to set off intense criticism as the administration tries to push through a number of rule changes before Trump leaves office.

A spokesperson for Biden said earlier this month that the president-elect “opposes the death penalty now and in the future.” But he didn’t say whether executions would be paused immediately once Biden takes office.