Florida Republican seeks to bring back electric chair, firing squad

A Republican state representative in Florida wants to bring back executions by electrocution or firing squad.

Brad Drake, from Eucheeanna in North Florida, filed a bill to eliminate lethal injection and bring back what he called “Old Sparky” – the electric chair.

“And if that doesn’t suit the criminal, then we will provide them a .45 caliber lead cocktail instead,” Drake said in a press release.

Florida got rid of its electric chair in 2000 after several inmates caught fire during executions. Inmates still may request the chair instead of lethal injection, but that hasn’t happened. Under Drake's bill, electrocution would be the primary mode of execution, but inmates could request a firing squad instead.

The Florida Current reports that the idea came to Drake in a Waffle House in DeFuniak Spring, where he overheard a constituent say, “They ought to just put them in the electric chair or line them up in front of a firing squad.”

“There shouldn't be anything controversial about a .45-caliber bullet. If it were up to me we would just throw them off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and be done with it,” Drake said.