A Georgia death row inmate is suing the state’s prison system to allow him to be executed by firing squad instead of lethal injection.
Michael Nance argued that his veins are “severely compromised” and would be difficult to locate during the execution, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
His lawsuit claims that if he were to be killed using pentobarbital, the drug of choice for executions, some of the chemical might leak into the surrounding tissue and would lead to a “prolonged execution that will produce excruciating pain.”
Nance was convicted of murder in 2002 for the fatal shooting of 43-year-old Gabor Balogh after a bank robbery. Balogh had refused to give up his car to Nance, who had just robbed the Tucker Federal Savings and Loan in Lilburn, Georgia, and was looking for a car to escape with.
Nance also said he has been taking medication for severe back pain and was concerned that his brain chemistry has been altered to the point that the pentobarbital would not be as effective at quickly killing him.
According to the lawsuit, “Execution by firing squad is both swift and virtually painless. Evidence and recent experience strongly suggest that the firing squad is significantly more reliable than lethal injection.”
Georgia has not used a firing squad to execute a prisoner since 1924. In 2017, Georgia death row inmate J.W. Ledford Jr. sued to be executed by firing squad, but his request was rejected by the courts, and he was killed by lethal injection.
Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said Friday that he doesn’t care how Nance is executed but just wants it to be carried out.
“If he needs a firing squad, then let him have it,” Porter said. “It’s certainly a unique request.”
