A convicted killer facing a possible June execution in Nevada has requested to die by firing squad rather than lethal injection, arguing the method is less painful. Zane Michael Floyd, 45, was sentenced to death for fatally shooting four people and injuring another in a 1999 Las Vegas supermarket attack.
Lawyers for Floyd say the request is not a delaying tactic, but a genuine preference to avoid the state's proposed three-drug lethal injection protocol. Federal public defender Brad Levenson stated that gunshots would be 'the most humane way' to carry out the death penalty.
Execution by firing squad is currently only legal in three US states—Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah—and has not been used since 2010. Nevada has not executed anyone since 2006, and Floyd would be the first in 15 years if the execution proceeds.
Prosecutors are expected to seek an execution warrant next month, with a possible date in early June. Floyd has exhausted multiple appeals, including a rejected Supreme Court petition last year. He plans to seek clemency from the Nevada State Pardons Board on 22 June.
The request comes as Nevada's Assembly recently voted to abolish the death penalty, a bill that would commute all death sentences to life without parole if passed by the Senate. Nevada is one of 27 states retaining capital punishment, with 70 inmates on death row.
