Lethal injection is currently the only method of execution authorized under Indiana law.
After a yearslong pause, the state resumed executions in December, using a single-drug protocol of pentobarbital to put Joseph Corcoran to death. A second execution followed in May, when Benjamin Ritchie was executed with the same drug. Together, they marked Indiana’s first executions since 2009.
A third execution for convicted murderer Roy Lee Ward is tentatively set for October and would also be carried out by lethal injection.
Republican Rep. Jim Lucas said he’s now exploring legislation to allow executions by either firing squad or gallows, however. Both methods are “cheaper, easier” and already permitted in several other states, he said.
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.
Lucas pointed to the high cost of lethal injections in Indiana, emphasizing the $300,000 price tag for a single dose of pentobarbital.
“That price, that fact right there is why we should be looking at other methods and forms of capital punishment,” Lucas told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “These other methods are certainly a hell of a lot less expensive than our current method with lethal injection drugs.”
Republican Gov. Mike Braun stopped short of endorsing any specific execution methods but pointed to South Carolina, which recently reinstated the firing squad as an option after years of delays due to its inability to obtain lethal injection drugs.
In June, Braun disclosed 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.
The governor said Indiana no longer has any usable lethal injection drugs. Instead of purchasing more — and risking expiration, given the drug’s 90-day shelf life — his office plans to order new execution drugs only when legal proceedings are near finishing.
Braun has repeatedly suggested, too, that the high cost and short shelf life of the drug should prompt new discussions on how the state approaches capital punishment moving forward. He called on lawmakers to debate the future of capital punishment in Indiana in their next session.
Discussion stirring around new methods
Even so, Indiana’s General Assembly doesn’t return until January, meaning any potential changes to the state’s execution policy are still months away.
“This is an issue that just fairly recently developed,” he said. “I know this is a controversial issue, and if it does come up, I think everybody will treat it with the respect that it deserves as we move forward in the discussion.”
But Republican House Speaker Todd Huston told the Capital Chronicle this week that his caucus hasn’t had any serious discussions about firing squads or other changes to Indiana’s death penalty law.
“There was a bill filed last year (to eliminate the death penalty), but there didn’t seem to be a lot of discussion about it,” Huston said. “We really haven’t talked about any of this.”
When asked whether the cost of lethal injections might push lawmakers to consider alternatives, Huston replied: “Maybe, but I think we should just probably have a fair discussion about it first.”
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray similarly told the Capital Chronicle that the issue “has not come up in his conversations with caucus members.”
He said earlier this year that a bill filed by Republican Rep. Bob Morris — which originally sought to abolish the state’s death penalty statute — included “language … that was very interesting to me.” But Bray similarly said at that time that no formal discussion had taken place within the Senate GOP caucus.
Although Morris’ bill never received a committee hearing in the House and ultimately died, it garnered support from several GOP lawmakers, including Sen. Liz Brown, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith also pointed to firing squads as a viable alternative.
He posted on social media in June that firing squads are “much cheaper than lethal injection” and that “Indiana should follow Idaho’s lead on this,” referencing that state’s 2023 law authorizing firing squads when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.
Rep. Andrew Ireland shared Beckwith’s post on X with the comment: “Stay tuned.”
Ireland told the Capital Chronicle he’s also working on new legislation to authorize alternative execution methods, including the firing squad.
“Some crimes are so horrific, so depraved, that the only just sentence is death,” Ireland said. He specifically cited Ward, who was convicted in 2007 for the rape and murder of 15‑year‑old Stacy Payne.
“What’s missing now isn’t justice — it’s a responsible, workable method to carry it out,” Ireland continued.
The Indianapolis Republican legislator echoed Braun’s concerns about the cost and shelf life of lethal injection drugs, calling the current approach “unsustainable” and unfair to victims’ families.
“That’s why I’m working on legislation to give Indiana real alternatives, including the firing squad — a method that is fast, effective, and constitutional,” Ireland said. “If we believe the death penalty is still law in Indiana, then we should have the means to enforce it. Otherwise, we’re just giving false hope to victims’ families and sending the wrong message to the worst of the worst.”
Where firing squads are used — and how they work
A law review article tallied 144 executions carried out by firing squads in the United States as of 2016.
But only a handful have occurred in recent decades, most recently in Utah, in 2024, and in South Carolina, where the method was used twice earlier this year.
Another execution by firing squad is scheduled for September in Utah.
Idaho’s Department of Correction, meanwhile, has paused all scheduled executions as it wraps up retrofitting of the state’s death chamber for firing squad readiness by mid‑2026. A new law passed earlier this year makes firing squads the primary method of execution in Idaho.
During a firing squad execution, the condemned is typically secured to a chair using leather straps across their waist and head, facing a canvas wall.
Witnesses to the 2010 execution of Ronnie Gardner in Utah reported that a doctor used a stethoscope to find and pin a circular cloth target over the inmate’s heart. Sandbags surrounded the chair to absorb blood, and a hood was placed over Gardner’s head.
A team — usually made up of five volunteer prison staff or corrections officers — stands some 20 to 25 feet away, behind a canvas wall, and fires simultaneously through a narrow opening. One member of the firing squad receives a blank round to obscure who actually fired a lethal shot. Death occurs almost instantly.
The method is often described by proponents and corrections officials as faster and more reliable than lethal injection — especially in states that have struggled to secure execution drugs.
The use of firing squads remains controversial, however.
Numerous human rights groups and medical experts cited by the Death Penalty Information Center argue that firing squad executions are inhumane — and that the psychological toll on those involved can be significant.
Others warn that the method can put prison staff or others present during the execution at risk if shots miss the intended targets.
A South Carolina inmate put to death in May was conscious and likely in extreme pain for up to a minute after the bullets missed their target and failed to quickly stop his heart, according to a pathologist hired by the inmate’s attorneys.
Questions linger over Indiana’s lethal injection practices
Recent executions in Indiana have also raised new scrutiny around lethal injections and the use of pentobarbital.
Corcoran’s wife, Tahina, and Ritchie’s girlfriend, Colleen Villeneuve, have both questioned whether drugs used in recent executions caused unnecessary pain or distress.
Ritchie’s attorneys reported seeing sudden, unexpected movement during the lethal injection process. But no members of the media were permitted to witness the execution, meaning there was no independent observation or account of what happened.
Tahina, who also witnessed, did not speak to the media after her husband’s execution but has since said she and her son, Justin, another witness, saw Corcoran “moving around a lot” before he died.
Indiana Department of Correction officials released few details about the executions but said both went “according to protocol.”
“I want the state to be held accountable for giving them these drugs. … We didn’t even know they had expiration dates. We weren’t given any information at all about anything,” Tahina said. “We want answers.”
Hoosier officials have not publicly disclosed when exactly the state acquired the doses or from where they were purchased. Indiana Code protects the identity of the seller from public scrutiny. State officials had previously declined to provide details about how much pentobarbital was purchased, and refused to provide information on expiration dates, storage or other details.
“We want the truth,” Villeneuve said. “We want somebody to be held accountable. Our guys were accountable for their crimes that they committed. They did the time. They walked in that room and they laid on that gurney, and they accepted their fate. But they did not deserve to be given bad drugs.”
Lucas said he wants Indiana to keep its capital punishment law — with or without firing squads — but made clear that any legislative discussion should be approached, foremost, “with respect for victims.”
“You want to be humane about this,” he said. “We don’t want to cause any undue pain or suffering. But, you know, we have to keep in mind that somebody that gets the death penalty … they pretty well deserve it.”
Source: courierpress.com, Casey Smith, July 21, 2025
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
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