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Eight death row inmates in Idaho will soon face death in a brand new, top-of-the-line firing squad chamber — and state officials are looking for volunteers to fire the rifles.
According to newly-released blueprint, Gem State officials will recruit six volunteer law enforcement officers with excellent aim to form its firing squad.
Three primary officers – equipped with semi-automatic rifles – will be tasked with firing the initial round of shots, while two alternates stand by, ready to unleash a second volley of bullets in case the condemned inmate survives the first round. A sixth officer, the squad leader, will be responsible for loading the state-owned firearms and directing the execution.
All of the executions will take place inside a new, $1.2 million execution chamber built inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution about 15 miles south of Boise – which is home to notorious inmates including University of Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger, “Doomsday mom” Lori Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell.
The latter Daybell is one of the seven men in the state currently on death row, along with one woman – all of whom have been convicted of murder.
Vallow Daybell and Kohberger avoided capital punishment, but are each serving consecutive life sentences on multiple murder convictions.
The condemned inmates will be offered a sedative one day before facing the firing squad, and another just hours beforehand.
Once inside the execution chamber, the prisoner will be strapped into a specially designed chair and medical personnel will attach heart-monitoring equipment to their body.
A target will also get placed over their heart.
After the prison director reads their death warrant aloud and gives the inmate an opportunity to make a final statement, the prisoner can request an eye covering before the gunfire begins.
The three primary officers will then aim their rifles through a foot-wide opening in a protective wall that they’re standing behind, roughly 10 yards away from the prisoner.
At the leader’s call, each officer will fire a single .308-caliber bullet simultaneously at the inmate’s chest.
The prisoner’s heart rate will be monitored for up to two minutes – at which point, if they’re still alive, prison authorities will authorize a second round of shots.
In order to become a volunteer executioner – whose identities will remain confidential under state law – an officer must have at least three years of Peace Officer Standards and Training certifications and a proven record of near-perfect aim.
Before they are approved, the volunteer is required to repeatedly and precisely strike a heart-sized target during firearm qualification training.
Any officer with a history of excessive force or firearm misconduct – or with any type of relationship to the condemned inmate, their victim or either family – will be disqualified from the process.
To remain qualified, the firing squad members are required to participate in regular live-fire training and execution rehearsals.
Once an execution warrant is issued, they’ll go through multiple dry-runs before the scheduled execution.
In addition to the $1.2 million spent on designing and building the spine-chilling chamber, the state shelled out nearly $25,000 for the five Daniel Defense DD5-P battle rifles – along with scopes, suppressors and bipods – and a barrage of .308-caliber bullets to be used in executions.
The dramatic policy shift, which kicked off July 1, was signed into law by republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little last year – following a botched lethal injection to execute convicted murderer and death row inmate Thomas Eugene Creech in February 2024.
Staff spent roughly an hour trying to administer the deadly IV – puncturing the serial killer multiple times – before abandoning the execution altogether.
Creech, 75 – who admitted to killing or participating in the killing of 26 people across seven states before his arrest in 174 – is Idaho’s longest-serving death row prisoner.
Robin Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, slammed the firing squad as “a method of execution that has already proven to be as flawed as any other.”
“Every new execution method in history has been introduced with the promise that it will be foolproof and ‘more humane’ than the previous method. Unfortunately, those promises have always been broken,” Maher told the Idaho Statesman.
Idaho Department of Corrections Director Bree Derrick, however, said the department is dedicated to fulfilling execution orders “with professionalism, respect and strict adherence to the law.”
“Our procedures are designed to ensure that any execution is conducted in a secure, orderly, and dignified manner while safeguarding the rights of all individuals involved and maintaining the safety and security of staff, witnesses, and the public,” Derrick told the outlet in a statement.
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