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Judge Argues For Return Of Firing Squad Executions

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An influential federal appeals court judge said Thursday that the nation's third lethal injection execution to go awry in six months underscores his call to bring back firing squads.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said lethal injection was a "dishonest" attempt to disguise the brutal nature of capital punishment.

Kozinski first wrote of his distaste for lethal injection in a decision Monday, even while arguing against delaying the execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood III in Phoenix. Wood gasped for breath for more than 90 minutes and took nearly two hours to die Wednesday after receiving a lethal injection for killing his estranged girlfriend and her father.

Kozinski said properly trained firing squads are a "foolproof" way to quickly execute an inmate and avoid complications surrounding lethal injection.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EXECUTION_FIRING_SQUAD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-24-16-38-21