By Niki Kelly
Indiana Capital Chronicle
After an attempt to add firing squads to Indiana law stalled in the Senate, a House panel on Wednesday passed a bill expanding the state’s execution methods.
Firing squad and nitrogen hypoxia would be allowed alongside lethal injection to carry out Indiana’s death penalty under a bill that passed 8-5 out of the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee.
House Bill 1119 was amended and now moves to the full chamber. Under the measure, it would be up to the Indiana Department of Correction to choose the manner of execution and state employees could not be forced to participate.
The vote was party line with Republicans in support except for Rep. Jennifer Meltzer, who joined Democrats in opposition.
“It provides options which are much needed in today’s environment,” said Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, the author of the bill. “Five states currently use both of these methods. Alabama has used nitrogen hypoxia for almost a decade. These methods have passed court muster in other states and they have been validated. That is the purpose of what I want to do with existing Indiana law is to bring it up to speed.”
Nitrogen hypoxia deprives inmates of oxygen using nitrogen gas. Alabama adopted the method in 2018 and used it for the first time in 2024. Five states — Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma — authorize execution by nitrogen hypoxia and only Alabama and Louisiana have used it.
Indiana had a 10-year gap in executing prisoners due to the state’s inability to acquire the lethal injection drugs needed. In 2024, the state switched to a single drug — pentobarbital — and has since executed three men. But the drugs are expensive, as much as $300,000 a dose, and several doses have expired unused.
No one testified in support of the legislation while the Indiana Catholic Conference, American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and the Indian Public Defender Council opposed it.
Several speakers noted it is illegal in Indiana to euthanize an animal using gas but this bill would allow a human to essentially be suffocated.
Under the bill, an execution by firing squad would be carried out by a trio of individuals chosen by the warden. “Each individual shall fire a weapon containing live ammunition. No blanks may be used,” according to the bill.
It also eliminates the requirement that an execution occur “before sunrise.”
Zach Stock, with the public defender’s office, said the overwhelming costs of a death penalty case are defending and prosecuting it — not the execution itself. He said the issue of availability of drugs is overstated, noting that 47 executions were conducted nationally in 2025 — 80% using lethal injection.
And he pushed back against another argument for the bill — it helps the federal government.
The federal death chamber sits in Terre Haute. Federal law allows flexibility beyond lethal injection based on methods authorized by states.
“This bill appears to be in response to a request from the White House, rather than a demonstrated long-term need in Indiana,” Stock said. “Our position on this is that Indiana should not permanently alter its execution laws to accommodate a federal request that may change with the next administration. And the federal request is premised on the flimsiest of needs. There are only three people on federal death row … if they really want firing squads, they can move the chamber to Utah or South Carolina or somewhere that authorizes it already. The federal government has its own authority and its own responsibility to address its own execution protocols.”
Roarke LaCoursiere, speaking on behalf of Indiana’s Catholic bishops, said the imagery of a gas chamber and firing squad “highlights the brutality and savagery that the death penalty itself is and legalizing these new methods would only exacerbate the harm that having the death penalty in modern times already does to society.
“We believe Indiana should not pursue these execution methods, as they do not align with building a culture of life.”
A similar bill in the Senate stalled in committee after testimony. Corrections and Criminal Law Committee Chairman Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, declined to take a vote on the legislation Tuesday, and doesn’t have another meeting scheduled. The bill dies for this year if it doesn’t gain committee approval by Monday.
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