Two killers to die by firing squad

LONDON- Utah is preparing to execute two convicted criminals by firing squad, an old - and extremely bloody - means of execution that is likely to renew the capital punishment debate in the United States.

The two men, a serial killer and a white supremacist who stabbed a fellow inmate in a murder captured on videotape, are due to die on consecutive nights at the end of next month. Under Utah law, any prisoner sentenced to death has the right to choose between lethal injection and a firing squad.

The firing squad tradition is rooted in Mormon custom, which holds that blood must be shed for the crime of murder to be appropriately punished. Utah is the only state to continue the practice, although it has done so just twice since capital punishment was reintroduced by the US Supreme Court in 1976.

Serial killer and rapist Roberto Arguellos, has been begging the court to agree to his execution for years. Not only does he want to die by firing squad, he says, but he wants to waive the right to have a hood over his head.

A lawyer for Arguellos has filed a motion against his will for clemency on the grounds of mental deficiency.

The other, white supremacist Troy Michael Kell, has sworn, spat and wriggled his way through his various court hearings.

Kell has filed an appeal for a stay of execution which is likely to be granted. Nevertheless, the symbolism of their chosen means of execution comes at a time that the US faces growing criticism for barbaric behaviour at home and abroad. Just a month ago, the US State Department condemned Cuba for executing a gang of ferry hijackers; they too were killed by firing squad.

The squads will be made up of anonymous police volunteers, and participants will be barred from talking publicly about the experience.

A hood will be put over the condemned man's head and a target will be pinned over his heart. The executioners will fire simultaneously from gun portals in a separate room at the inmate, seated in a chair about 9m away. One of the five rifles will contain a blank, so that no one will know who fired the fatal shots.

In 1992, Arguelles abducted and strangled Margo Bond, a cleaner at a junior high school. He also kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed two girls, 13 and 15, and stabbed a 16-year-old girl more than 40 times.

Kell was convicted in 1996 of killing a black man, Lonnie Blackmon, at the Utah State Prison. Kell, serving time for a previous murder, stabbed Blackmon 67 times in 1994. A prison videotape shows Kell shouting, "White power!" during the attack.

- INDEPENDENT