Jimmie E. Gates

USA TODAY NETWORK - Mississippi

A bill is on the way to the governor to allow firing squads as an option to carry out executions.

House Bill 638 still has lethal injection, which is now used, as the first option. But if the state’s lethal injection protocol is ruled unconstitutional, then other options for execution would be successive if one is ruled unconstitutional.

The final bill adopted Tuesday says the method of execution following lethal injection would be gas, electrocution and firing squad.

The House adopted the House and Senate conference committee report on the bill Sunday, and the Senate adopted it Tuesday, meaning it has passed the Legislature and is now headed to the governor.

When the bill was originally filed, it had firing squad and electrocution as the third and fourth options. A Senate committee had removed firing squad from the bill, but the House reinstated it.

House Judiciary B Chairman Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, said the final bill has nitrogen gas, electrocution and firing squad as the last option.

Gov. Phil Bryant and Attorney General Jim Hood have signaled their support for the bill.

“I have a constituent whose daughter was raped and killed 25 years ago and the person is still awaiting execution,” Gipson said of the bill earlier this year. “If we want to have the death penalty, this bill will give us options.”

Gipson said firing squads have been used in some states. He said electrocution and gas have been used previously in Mississippi.

During an earlier debate on the bill, Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson, asked Gipson, who is a Baptist minister, what the Bible says about grace and mercy.

“I’m a big believer in mercy and grace,” Gipson said. “Unfortunately, the death penalty is necessary for those who commit atrocious crimes.”

Hood said his support for the bill is to remove the language that a certain protocol has to be used to carry out lethal injections.

Since Mississippi joined the union in 1817, several forms of execution have been used. Hanging was the first, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The state continued to execute prisoners by hanging until Oct. 11, 1940, when Hilton Fortenberry, convicted of capital murder in Jefferson Davis County, became the first prisoner to be executed in the electric chair. Between 1940 and Feb. 5, 1952, the old oak electric chair was moved from county to county to conduct executions. During the 12-year span, 75 prisoners were executed for offenses punishable by death.

In 1954, the gas chamber was installed at the State Penitentiary at Parchman, according to MDOC. It replaced the electric chair, which is on display at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy. Gearald A. Gallego became the first prisoner to be executed by lethal gas on March 3, 1955. During the course of the next 34 years, 35 death row inmates were executed in the gas chamber. The 1983 execution of child-killer Jimmy Lee Gray led to protests about that method. Prison officials and witnesses watched as Gray’s head banged into a steel pole behind the chair. On June 21, 1989, Leo Edwards became the last person to be executed in the gas chamber at the penitentiary.

On July 1, 1984, the Mississippi Legislature partially amended lethal gas as the state’s form of execution. The amendment provided that individuals who committed capital punishment crimes after the effective date of the new law and who were subsequently sentenced to death would be executed by lethal injection. On March 18, 1998, the Legislature amended the manner of execution by removing the lethal gas provision as the alternate form of execution. Since 2002, 17 death row inmates have died by lethal injection.

The last time Mississippi executed a death row inmate was 2012. Since then, a federal lawsuit over the drug protocol used in executions, combined with motions before the state Supreme Court, have left a question mark as to when the next execution might occur. Forty-seven inmates remain on death row.