Idaho’s firing squad becomes the state’s primary method of execution on July 1, 2026, under House Bill 37, which Governor Brad Little signed on March 12, 2025. Lethal injection stays on the books as a fallback, but only when the Idaho Department of Correction director cannot certify that a firing squad execution is available. The law applies to every execution carried out on or after that date, no matter when the death sentence was imposed.1Idaho State Legislature. Idaho House Bill 37 – Methods of Execution
Why Idaho Made the Switch
Pharmaceutical companies have refused for years to sell drugs like pentobarbital for executions, and Idaho had not carried one out in more than a decade when it tried to execute Thomas Creech by lethal injection in February 2024. The execution team tried eight times to establish an IV line, inserting needles into Creech’s hands, feet, and legs. His veins collapsed each time. After more than an hour, officials called it off.
The legislature had already been moving. House Bill 186, effective July 1, 2023, added the firing squad as a backup when lethal injection drugs were unavailable, with the IDOC director required to certify the shortage before the backup kicked in.2Idaho State Legislature. Idaho Code 19-2716 – Infliction of Death Penalty Methods of Execution After the Creech attempt failed, lawmakers flipped the order. HB 37 passed the Senate 28–7 and the House 58–11, moving the firing squad to first position and demoting lethal injection to the fallback role.1Idaho State Legislature. Idaho House Bill 37 – Methods of Execution
How the Statute Works
Under the amended Idaho Code § 19-2716, both methods are authorized but the firing squad comes first. Within five days of a court issuing a death warrant, the IDOC director must determine whether a firing squad execution is available and file a sworn affidavit with the court stating that assessment.1Idaho State Legislature. Idaho House Bill 37 – Methods of Execution
If the director certifies that the firing squad is available, the execution proceeds by firing squad. If the director does not file the certification, or determines the firing squad is unavailable for any reason, the state falls back to lethal injection. A court ruling the firing squad unconstitutional also forces the switch to lethal injection.
Subsection (6) of the statute gives the director authority to determine all execution procedures. That single sentence hands IDOC broad discretion over operational details, from squad composition to equipment, without legislative sign-off or public rulemaking on the specifics.
Who This Affects
As of March 2026, eight people are under a sentence of death in Idaho. Seven men are held at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, and one woman is at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center.3Idaho Department of Correction. Death Row Thomas Creech and Chad Daybell are among them. No execution dates have been set, and all executions were paused in May 2025 while the execution chamber is renovated.
The Chamber Retrofit
Executions take place in F-Block at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. IDOC took F-Block completely offline on May 23, 2025, to rebuild it for firing squad use. The work includes a dedicated firing squad space, updated witness viewing areas for both methods, and ballistic protection, sound mitigation, and safety features for staff and witnesses.4Idaho Department of Correction. F-Block Retrofit Update
Phase two of the retrofit was estimated at $910,802. Combined with earlier work on a new execution preparation room, the state has invested close to a million dollars to make the firing squad operational. IDOC estimated construction at six to nine months, with additional time afterward for the execution team to train before the July 2026 effective date.4Idaho Department of Correction. F-Block Retrofit Update
What Is and Isn’t Known About the Procedure
IDOC has not publicly released its formal procedures, and the statute allows the director to set them without public rulemaking. Officials have said the department is developing a remote-operated method designed to minimize the need for prison staff to pull triggers directly. If direct staff involvement becomes necessary, IDOC has said it would seek assistance from outside law enforcement officers trained and psychologically prepared for the task. That approach departs from the traditional model used in Utah and South Carolina, where volunteer marksmen fire manually from behind a barrier.
Beyond that, Idaho has not confirmed the number of shooters, the type of firearms, the distance from the condemned person, or whether any weapons will be loaded with blank rounds. The blank-round practice, sometimes called the “conscience round,” has long been used in other firing squads to diffuse individual responsibility, but whether Idaho will adopt it is unknown.
For comparison, the only recent U.S. firing squad execution took place in Utah in 2010. Utah used a five-person squad positioned 21 feet from the condemned person, with .30-caliber rifles and at least one loaded with blanks. South Carolina, which authorized the firing squad in 2021, uses a three-person squad at 10 feet, with a hood over the prisoner’s head and a target on the chest. Idaho’s protocol may borrow from these or diverge significantly, and it will likely not be made fully public before the first execution.
Who Witnesses an Execution
Idaho’s administrative rules identify who may be present in the witness area:
- The Ada County coroner or a deputy, who pronounces death
- The sheriff of the county where the conviction occurred
- The prosecuting attorney from that county
- A spiritual advisor of the condemned person’s choosing
- The sentencing judge
- The governor or a representative
- The attorney general or a representative
- Two members of the victim’s family
- Two approved visitors or family members of the condemned person
- The condemned person’s attorney of record
- Four members of the news media
If any of these individuals decline to attend, the IDOC director may approve a substitute.5OVC TTAC. Idaho Admin Code 135 – Executions
Constitutional Questions
The only U.S. Supreme Court decision directly addressing execution by firing squad is Wilkerson v. Utah (1878). The Court held that death by shooting for a murder conviction did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, reasoning that firing squads did not involve the kind of torture the amendment was written to prevent.6Justia. Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U.S. 130 (1878)
Wilkerson predates by 80 years the “evolving standards of decency” framework the Court established in Trop v. Dulles (1958), which is the test courts now use to evaluate Eighth Amendment claims. No court has evaluated a firing squad under that modern standard. Defense attorneys and legal scholars have pointed to this gap as a likely avenue for challenge, arguing that a 19th-century ruling cannot carry the weight of nearly 150 years of changed norms. Whether Idaho’s firing squad will face a direct Eighth Amendment challenge likely depends on when the state schedules its first execution and whether a federal court is persuaded to apply the evolving-standards test to this method for the first time.