Execution by firing squad advances in South Carolina 0:46
(CNN) -
An Oklahoma federal judge said Monday he hopes to make a decision later this week on a petition filed by two Oklahoma death row inmates requesting that their executions be carried out by firing squad rather than by firing squad. a lethal injection.
Lori Gray, deputy to US District Judge Stephen Friot, confirmed to CNN that Judge Friot told the parties at a hearing that he would work toward a decision later this week.
The petition was filed by two inmates, Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle: Grant is scheduled to be executed on January 27 and Postelle on February 17.
Donald Grant (left) and Gilbert Postelle (right).
In their initial petition to the court, the inmates' attorneys had requested a court order to prevent Oklahoma from using the lethal injection.
The inmates' lawyers are calling for the executions to be delayed until a trial in late February on the constitutionality of the lethal injection protocol.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Josh Ward declined to comment on the case, citing pending litigation.
Ward did confirm that the state has never carried out an execution by firing squad, but said the department was prepared to comply with court orders.
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Oklahoma resumed lethal injection executions in October 2021 after suspending them for more than five years following the failed execution of an inmate in 2014. During the October 2021 execution, witnesses reported that inmate John Grant was convulsing and vomiting.
Attorneys for Donald Grant and Postelle cited the October 2021 execution in their petition, arguing that it was unsuccessful and that if their clients are sentenced to death by lethal injection, they risk substantial and serious harm.
Now, lawyers are asking the court to allow inmates to choose to be executed by firing squad.
Testimony presented by the plaintiffs in the court files of a "certified anesthetist and certified pain medicine specialist" contends that the shooting, not the Oklahoma lethal injection process, is appropriate because "the shooting will reliably cause death. it will be fast and practically painless. "
They also argue that by executing inmates by shooting the "risk of a 'failed' execution is substantially reduced compared to the more complicated method of lethal injection."
CNN contacted attorneys for Grant and Postelle for comment, but received no response.
On November 30, 2021, the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 4 to 1 against recommending clemency for Donald Grant.
CNN affiliate KOCO reports that during that hearing, Grant's attorneys argued that although their client admitted to a double murder in 2001, he should not be executed because he "has a serious mental illness."
The Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles meeting also voted 4-1 against recommending clemency for Gilbert Postelle at a hearing on December 1, 2021. KOCO reports that Postelle was found guilty of murdering four people he believed they had been responsible for a motorcycle accident that left his father injured.