During the 1938 execution of convicted murderer John Deering, the prison physician monitored the inmate's heartbeat, according to Alex Boese's "Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments" (Mariner Books, 2007). If the executioners hit their target - the condemned's heart - death should come quickly. The condemned person is strapped to a chair and surrounded by sandbags to prevent the bullets from ricocheting. How well it works: As practiced today in the United States, firing squad executions are carried out by five anonymous gunmen, one of which has a rifle loaded with a wax "dummy" bullet, so none can ever know if theirs was the fatal shot. Oklahoma reserves the option in case lethal injection and electrocution are found unconstitutional. ![]() Utah inmates sentenced to death before 2004 may choose the firing squad. The last gas chamber execution in the United States took place in Arizona in 1999. How often it's used: Only 11 times since 1976. And in one incident in 1983, convicted murderer and rapist Jimmy Lee Gray gasped and flailed so much during his execution that the warden expelled the witnesses from the observation room. Lethal gas takes time to kill witnesses to the 1960 execution of convicted robber, kidnapper and rapist Caryl Chessman reported almost nine minutes of gasping and coughing, according to the Los Angeles Times. Like electrocution, the gas chamber hasn't always seemed as humane as hoped when it was developed in 1921. The resulting chemical reaction creates clouds of deadly hydrogen cyanide gas, which kill the prisoner. Next, potassium cyanide pellets are dropped into a bucket of sulfuric acid. How well it works: In a gas execution, the inmate is strapped into an airtight chamber and fitted with a heart monitor. Wyoming reserves the right to use the gas chamber if lethal injection is found unconstitutional. On the books: In Arizona, California, Maryland and Missouri, where inmates can choose it over lethal injection. The most recent prisoner to choose the chair was convicted rapist and murderer Paul Warner Powell, executed in Virginia in 2010. How often it's used: The last state to use the chair as its only method of execution, Nebraska, declared execution by electrocution unconstitutional in 2008, meaning electrocution is now only used when the inmate chooses it. Several controversial executions in the 1980s and 1990s also required multiple jolts of electricity and sometimes, witnesses reported, flames or smoke coming from the condemned person's body. ![]() Newspapers at the time reported that the condemned man's flesh was charred and smoking by the time he was declared dead. The idea was that massive jolts of electrical current would cause instant death, but Kemmler's execution was hardly a good start for this new method. How well it works: Conceived as a humane alternative to hanging, the electric chair was first used to execute axe-murderer William Kemmler in 1890. On the books: In nine states, all of which use lethal injection as their primary method All chose the method over lethal injection. How often it's used: Since 1977, three prisoners have been executed by hanging in the United States, two in Washington state and one in Delaware. But that isn't always the case: After many a gruesome 30-minute-long strangling, the public lost its appetite for hanging in the early 1900s, according to the office of the prosecuting attorney of Clark County, Indiana, which keeps a website on death penalty cases. The loss of consciousness due to lack of blood to the brain should be quick, and so should death. If the fall isn't long enough, the rope cuts off breathing and blood flow through the carotid arteries in the neck. If the fall is too long, the person's head may come right off. Unfortunately for many executed prisoners throughout history, hanging is easy to botch. The body weight snaps the neck and the person dies almost instantly. ![]() ![]() How well it works: If done right, hanging should be quick. In New Hampshire, inmates can only be hanged if lethal injection cannot be given for some reason in Washington, inmates can request the gallows. On the books: In New Hampshire and Washington state.
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