Oklahoma House passes bill ending electric chair executions

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The Oklahoma House has approved a bill that would eliminate the electric chair as a mode of execution, although it’s more than 50 years since the state’s last electrocution.
The bill lists which execution methods are allowed, including lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia, which causes death by depleting oxygen in the blood, firing squad and any other form not prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.
The bill also would give the Department of Corrections’ director the choice of which method to use.
House members voted 74-22 Thursday for the bill and sent it to the Senate for a vote.
Executions have been on hold in Oklahoma since a botched execution in 2014 and drug mix-ups during the last two scheduled lethal injections in 2015. Electrocution hasn’t been used in Oklahoma since 1966.