By Alexandra Kukulka
Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.)
MERRIVILLE, Ind. — The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law committee discussed a bill Tuesday that would allow firing squad executions for death penalty inmates, including testimony from four people opposed to the bill.
Senate Bill 11, filed by State Sen. Michael Young, would allow firing squad executions if medications for lethal injection can’t be obtained or the inmate chooses death by firing squad at least 30 days before the scheduled execution date.
The firing squad would be made up of five Department of Correction officers selected by the warden. The firing squad members’ identity would be kept confidential and not subject to discovery in civil or criminal lawsuits, according to the bill.
At the time of execution, four members will have guns with live ammunition and one member will have a gun with blank ammunition. The guns would be loaded without the members knowing who has what kind of ammunition, according to the bill.
Young, R- Indianapolis, testified before the committee Tuesday that it could cost up to $300,000 per dose of pentobarbital, which is used to conduct a lethal injection, and it often expires before use.
The federal government conducts death penalty executions at the Terre Haute prison, Young said, and it is constrained by the execution laws in Indiana , Young said.
“The federal government has to be able to have a way to carry out a lawful order from the courts and if they can’t get the chemical or it’s not there, they can’t do it, and they have to have another method,” Young said.
Young said he’s open to amendments to the bill, including an “up to” clause for how many officers should be on the firing squad and allowing officers to choose whether or not to be on a firing squad.
“If I was the warden, I’d probably take volunteers. I wouldn’t force somebody to take somebody else’s life,” Young said.
In 2024, Indiana resumed executions after a nearly 15-year pause because pharmaceutical companies were hesitant to sell the drugs for executions amid growing public scrutiny, said Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor Jody Madeira.
Three Indiana death row inmates – Joseph Corcoran, Benjamin Ritchie and Roy Lee Ward – have been executed in the last year.
Gov. Mike Braun disclosed in June that Indiana officials spent $1.175 million on lethal injection doses over the past year, $600,000 of which was spent on drugs that expired before use. The cost has been between $275,000 and $300,000 per dose, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
The firing squad death penalty method is constitutional, but it’s likely to remain controversial, Madeira said.
Currently, five states allow for firing squad executions: Utah , Mississippi, Oklahoma , Idaho and South Carolina, Madeira said. Idaho’s firing squad law goes into effect in 2026, Madeira said.
States approach the firing squad execution in two ways: Listing a preference in order of execution method, like lethal injection first and firing squad method last, like in Oklahoma, or allowing inmates to choose an execution method, which includes firing squad, like in South Carolina, Madeira said.
In March, Brad Sigmon, a South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat, was executed by firing squad. He was the first U.S. prisoner in 15 years to die by firing squad, which Sigmon chose over lethal injection.
Since then, South Carolina executed two more inmates – Mikal Mahdi and Stephen Bryant – by firing squad. In all three executions, the men had bullseye targets placed over their hearts, and three jail employees fired the shots.
In Indiana, State Sen. Liz Brown, R- Fort Wayne, said she was concerned that execution by firing squad will become the default because of the high cost of lethal injection drugs. Brown further argued for studying why lethal injection drugs cost so much.
Young said the bill outlines that if the lethal injection drug isn’t available, then the firing squad can be used, or an inmate could choose execution by firing squad.
State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr ., D- Chesterton, asked Young if he was concerned about shooting someone not dying immediately after being shot, “and you’re laying witness to what could potentially be cruel and unusual punishment,” which could open the state to lawsuits.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled execution by firing squad isn’t inhumane, Young said.
Four people testified against the bill before the committee Tuesday.
Zack Stock, legislative counsel for the Indiana Public Defender Council, said the organization opposes Senate Bill 11 because it is “a solution in search of a problem.”
While those who support death by firing squad argue about the cost of lethal injection medication, difficulty in obtaining the drug, and the need by the federal government, “they don’t hold water,” Stock said.
In 2025, 47 death row inmates were executed in the U.S. , Stock said, with more than 80% of the deaths carried out by lethal injection. In Indiana , there are five death row inmates, with one of the inmates being deemed incompetent to stand trial.
“We don’t need large quantities of drugs now, and we’re unlikely to need them in the future,” Stock said.
At the federal level, there are three death row inmates in Indiana , Stock said, and the federal government could build a firing squad chamber in a state that allows for it and move the Indiana inmates there. The bill seems to address a request from the White House, he said.
“Indiana doesn’t need to permanently alter its execution laws to accommodate a federal request that may change with the next administration,” Stock said.
Samantha Bresnahan, with the ACLU Indiana, said the organization opposes the bill because it further promotes the secrecy around how death penalty executions are carried out.
With broad language about protecting members of the firing squad, Bresnahan said the state could argue for not disclosing training methods, qualifications and any safeguards.
“Precisely the information the public needs to evaluate whether the process is lawful, competent, and free from misconduct,” Bresnahan said. “This bill asks this legislature to do something extreme: expand the machinery of capital punishment and then hide how it works.”
Robert Dunham, former executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said he opposes the bill because it will allow for more secrecy around death penalty executions.
In Mikal Mahdi’s death in South Carolina, an autopsy report found Mahdi was shot in the pancreas, liver and lower lung, Dunham said. Mahdi was cremated before an independent autopsy could be conducted, he said.
Further, Dunham said there “is no urgent federal need” for execution of death row inmates, unless someone believes the conspiracy that former President Joe Biden used an autopen to commute the sentence of death row inmates.
“This is a solution in search of a problem,” Dunham said.
Roarke LaCoursiere, with the Indiana Catholic Conference, said the organization opposes the bill because while its members stand with the victims and their families, the death penalty doesn’t bring about justice.
“We believe reverting to something as gruesome as a firing squad only underscores the brutality and savagery that the death penalty itself is, and legalizing a firing squad method would be a step in the wrong direction in Indiana’s efforts to build a culture of life,” LaCoursiere said.
As he closed, Young said it’s important for the firing squad members’ information to be private to avoid public harassment. Ultimately, Young said those who oppose the bill want to take away choice from an inmate.
“I just say, let the prisoner decide which way he prefers to have the execution carried out. If he’s okay with it, so am I,” Young said.
The committee will file amendments to the bill by the end of the week and discuss the bill further next week.
Should all states allow firing squad executions for death penalty inmates?
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