SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s governor has received hundreds of messages from people around the country urging him to sign or veto a bill that would make the state the only one to allow executions by firing squad if lethal injection drugs are unavailable.

Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, said Thursday that he’s leaning toward signing the proposal because the state needs a fallback execution method.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert says he is considering signing a bill to allow firing squad executions because the state needs a fallback execution method. Reuters

It’s unclear when Herbert will officially sign the bill. He has until April 1 to make the decision.

Herbert’s spokesman, Marty Carpenter, said Friday that the governor wants as much information as he can when making a decision. But Herbert also recognizes that people who write are passionate about the issue but may not represent the full picture of public opinion, Carpenter said.

On Friday afternoon, members of the governor’s staff met with Randy Gardner, a Salt Lake City man whose brother was the last Utah inmate executed by firing squad in 2010. Ronnie Lee Gardner was sentenced before Utah stopped allowing inmates to choose the method.

Gardner said he told Herbert’s staff about his opposition to bringing back the method and how painful it was to see his brother’s body riddled with bullet holes after his execution.

Utah lawmakers passed the measure last week amid a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs. European drug manufacturers have refused to sell the drugs to U.S. prisons out of opposition to capital punishment.

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