Death penalty opponents arrived in Utah to protest the firing-squad execution of a child killer, and quickly offended state lawmakers by calling the state barbaric.

“The state itself is committing a coldblooded, premeditated murder,” said Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, who arrived in Utah for a protest with the leader of Amnesty International.

The activists said their meeting with Utah lawmakers was cordial, but acknowledged they were unsuccessful in persuading them to abolish capital punishment or end the practice of death by firing squad.

“It got a little tense when people come in from New York and accuse us of being brutal and barbaric for having the death penalty,” said Frank Pignanelli, state House minority leader. “I resented it and I think the others did as well.”

John Albert Taylor is scheduled to die Friday at Utah State Prison for the 1989 rape and strangulation of 11-year-old Charla Nicole King. He dropped all appeals and wants to go through with the firing-squad execution, the first in the United States since convicted killer Gary Gilmore was shot in 1977 at the same prison.