Inmate Wants Firing Squad

Fri., Aug. 9, 1996

Associated Press

Douglas F. Wright, who faces execution by lethal injection in less than a month, says it would serve him right to be killed by a firing squad.

Oregon State Penitentiary Superintendent Frank Thompson revealed Wright’s death wish Wednesday.

Wright is slated for execution Sept. 6. State law requires executions be carried out by lethal injection.

Thompson said Wright sees himself as an evil person and believes he deserves to die by firing squad, reflecting how he killed his victims.

A career criminal who previously served time for murder, Wright was convicted of aggravated murder in October 1993 in Wasco County for the shooting deaths of three homeless men.

There is no doubt that Wright wants to go through with the execution, Thompson said.

“If you talk with Doug Wright,” Thompson said, “Doug Wright looks you right in the eye, and you know Doug Wright knows what he wants.”

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