He Hates the Death Penalty, Advocates for Firing Squads

James Williams, an ER doctor in Texas, occupies what for him is an uncomfortable place in the conversation about the death penalty. He tells the Marshall Project that he is "mostly opposed to capital punishment," and yet he has emerged as perhaps the nation's foremost expert on firing squads as an alternative method. He has testified in court multiple times on the subject, but always on behalf of inmates. In short, he doesn't want inmates to be executed, but if they are to be executed, he views a firing squad as the most humane method to minimize suffering. Much of it comes down to this: A lethal injection might take minutes to kill an inmate, and that's assuming it isn't botched. A firing squad takes seconds.

Williams bases his views on a lifetime of treating gunshot wounds and as a survivor of one himself as a youth. In the interview, he talks about the classic protocol of having gunmen fire at the heart. "There is a lot of evidence that the near-instant loss of blood pressure means no blood gets to the brainstem, and there is a rapid loss of consciousness." He adds that aiming for the head or brainstem might be "more effective," but "it's more grisly and unpleasant from society's perspective."

The heart of the piece might be summed up by Williams himself, recalling how he spoke with two death-row inmates several years ago who wanted to know what they might experience with a firing squad. "I said, in effect, 'You'll be OK. I mean, you'll be dead, but you'll be OK.'" (Read the full interview.)