3 ms·

I thought the way it was done was that 4 of the 5 firing squad members fire blanks? In fact Wikipedia mentions that this is the case in Ronnie Lee Gardner's exe

• rgrieselhuber 16y ago
  The story I read said that only one of the bullets was a blank, but the pattern you mention is the one I have also heard of more often. When I think about it though, that would be even more risky as many people have survived single gunshot wounds, at least for a little while.
  • patrickk 16y ago
    Actually I did a little more reading (offline, no link unfortunately) and apparently in this execution four of the five firing squad members were firing live rounds, and one fired a blank. The reasoning for this is that each person can say "well, at least there's a chance that I fired the blank". Over time, each man will believe he fired the blank, to console himself. The weakness in this concept is that an experienced marksman will be able to tell the difference between a live round and a blank (more recoil from a live round).