LETTER: How to carry out the death penalty in Nevada

In reference to your May 24 front-page story, “Prison system says it has no execution drugs”:

When a criminal has been found guilty of committing a heinous crime and sentenced to death, and appeals have been exhausted and there’s no reasonable doubt that he committed the crime, he should be put to death. Period. The simplest, most effective, most inexpensive and foolproof way to do that is by firing squad.

The business of using a cocktail of drugs, sometimes without certainty that they will work, or that they may cause the recipient to suffer and prolong the process of death, is inhumane and illogical. It allows the criminal to continue appeals based on “cruel and unusual” criteria, and it extends the time during which the state must house, feed and provide care to such an individual.

The hemming and hawing about execution drugs is unnecessary. Let’s just return to a swift and sure mechanism for justice: the firing squad.