US killer fighting execution date in June asks state to consider firing squad

A CONVICTED killer fighting a possible June execution date that would make him the first person put to death in Nevada in 15 years is calling for the state to consider the firing squad as an option.

Lawyers for Zane Michael Floyd say he does not want to die and are challenging the state plan to use a three-drug lethal injection, which led to court challenges that twice delayed the execution of another convicted killer who later took his own life in prison.

“This is not a delaying tactic,” said Brad Levenson, a federal public defender representing Floyd.

But a challenge of the state execution protocol requires the defence to provide an alternative method, and Mr Levenson said gunshots to the brain stem would be “the most humane way”.

“Execution by firing squad... causes a faster and less painful death than lethal injection,” the attorneys said in a court filing.

Nevada once allowed firing squads but state law now requires the use of lethal injection.

Three US states – Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah – and the US military allow capital punishment by gunfire. The last time that method was used in the United States was in Utah in 2010.

Floyd’s attorneys are asking a federal judge in Las Vegas to stop Floyd from being put to death until prison officials “devise a new procedure or procedures to carry out a lawful execution”.

The 45-year-old was convicted in 2000 of killing four people with a shotgun in a Las Vegas supermarket in 1999. He wants a chance to seek clemency at a June 22 meeting of the Nevada State Pardons Board.