[JURIST] A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Corrections on Thursday said that a death row inmate has requested death by electrocution for the first time in nearly twenty years. The inmate, Wayne Doty, was sentenced [Tampa Bay Times report] to death in 2011 after killing a fellow inmate. While the electric chair has not been used for executions in Florida in 16 years, the state has not declared the practice illegal. The practice has not completely disappeared in recent years, as a prisoner was executed by electrocution [WSJ report] in Virginia in 2013. That execution was also the result of a prisoner’s request. Private investigator Sean Fisher, who used to work for Doty, believes he is motivated by wanting his death to occur quickly as he is worried about lethal injections being found unconstitutional. According to prison spokesperson McKinley Lewis, the request is currently under review.

Use of the death penalty has been a controversial issue throughout the US and internationally. Last month an Oklahoma appeals court granted an emergency stay of execution [JURIST report] for inmate Richard Glossip several hours before he was scheduled for his lethal injection. In June the US Supreme Court held that the use of the drug midazolam may be used in executions [JURIST report] without violating the constitution. In April the Tennessee Supreme Court had postponed the execution [JURIST report] of four inmates on death row while it determines whether current protocols are constitutional, effectively halting all executions in the state. Also in April the Delaware Senate voted to repeal the death penalty [JURIST report], but the legislation includes an exemption for the 15 inmates currently on Delaware’s death row. In March Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed a bill [JURIST report] to restore the firing squad as a method of execution, making Utah one of the only states with that option.