UT - Convicted killer faces firing squad. UPDATE: Done deal.

General General Discussion
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-firing-squad-20100424,0,6161645.story

A Utah inmate facing the death penalty for a violent 1985 escape attempt is scheduled to die on June 18 by firing squad, an execution method that has been phased out in nearly every state, including Utah.

Ronnie Lee Gardner elected Friday to face a firing squad under a provision of state law that exempts five death row inmates who signaled their preference to die by firing squad before Utah all but banned the old, frontier-style practice in 2004.

“I would like the firing squad, please,” Gardner, 49, told District Judge Robin Reese during Friday’s hearing in Salt Lake City.

The case has renewed calls among death penalty opponents in Utah for an end to executions by all methods, and particularly those by firing squad.

“Even Utah has decided that it’s so barbaric that it actually is no longer an option for people sentenced to death today,” said Ralph Dellapiana, death penalty project director for High Road for Human Rights, one of a coalition of death penalty opponents in Utah.

“It’s kind of a shock to the community when there’s actually going to be somebody put up against a wall and killed,” he said.

Utah is the only state that still actively uses firing squads. A state law in 2004 ruled out such executions except if death by lethal injection is found to be unconstitutional. Oklahoma has a similar provision, but that state allows firing squads only if both lethal injection and electrocution are ruled unconstitutional.

“In the future, convicted felons will not have a choice,” Utah State Rep. Sheryl Allen, a Republican who carried the 2004 legislation, said in an interview. “Number one, I believe it should be the decision of the state, and not the executed criminal; and number two, the firing squad just attracts an inordinate amount of attention. Execution is unfortunate, period, but in this case people concentrate on the method, rather than the victims.”

Tom Brunker, head of the state attorney general’s capital punishment appeals section, said death by firing squad would still be allowed if the U.S. Supreme Court declared lethal injection unconstitutional on its face, or if a defendant with medical constraints connected to lethal injection successfully argued that it would be unconstitutional to force him to undergo the procedure.

The law phasing out firing squads was not retroactively applied to Gardner and four other inmates who had already signaled their preference to die by firing squad before 2004 because lawmakers did not want to provide them with additional grounds for appeals, Allen said.

Utah’s most famous inmate to die by firing squad was Gary Gilmore, whose demand to be executed for two murders he committed in Utah led to his execution in 1977, the first execution of any kind after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

The nation’s only other firing squad execution since was in 1996, when another Utah inmate, John Albert Taylor, died after being found guilty of raping and strangling an 11-year-old girl.

Gardner, who fatally shot a lawyer and wounded a court bailiff during an attempted courthouse escape in 1985, initially requested a firing squad, later changed his mind and asked for lethal injection, but on Friday confirmed his initial decision.

He told the Deseret News in 1996 that he would sue for the right to die by firing squad. “I guess it’s my Mormon heritage,” he told the paper. “I like the firing squad. It’s so much easier … and there’s no mistakes.”

His lawyer, Andrew Parnes, said he would not comment on his client’s selection.

“That’s his personal decision. Under Utah law, he gets to choose,” he said.

Parnes said he is filing a notice of appeal with the Utah Supreme Court arguing that the court failed to adequately consider the defense’s earlier complaint that Gardner was not provided with the resources to present a full mitigation defense when his death sentence was under initial review.

His lawyers later were provided with the resources during Gardner’s federal appeals.

Parnes also presented statements from friends and relatives of the lawyer slain during the escape attempt, Michael Burdell, that Burdell would not have advocated the death penalty.

“Michael Burdell was basically a generous and law-abiding and pacifist-type person who would not have wanted the death penalty for him,” Parnes said.

But Reese on Friday concluded that the defendant had exhausted his legal remedies. “There is nothing in the arguments today to cause further reflection,” he said, according to local news reports.

Cheaper than other options unless you reuse the rope.

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firing squad is an honor that should be reserved solely for soldiers.

interesting, nonetheless. i didn’t see where it said who the firing squad is… corrections officers?

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I wonder if the Firing squad will cost the State as much as the Lethal Injection ? I laugh when they use a alcohol swab before they insert the IV.
I guess the saying "Live By the Gun.Die by the gun "has a new meaning in Utah

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I fail to see the problem…

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its a manly way to go. seems like i would hurt pretty good… assuming 7 rounds through the heart, i’m sure you still have pain signals for probably a good 60 seconds till you black out. ack.

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In what regards? Traitors?

Yeah, that makes no sense.

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Traitors, cowards, criminals in general. just seems appropriate that soldiers being put to death for their crimes should get the gun. every soldier has sacrificed a part of himself for his country, even the total shithead dirtbag soldiers who end up raping and murdering. the least you can do is honor their station by giving them exclusive right to a firing squad.

what has some civilian criminal done to deserve the honor?

gonna depend on how you look at it… i guess most people don’t make the connection between firing squads and a certain air of tradition and respect. i do.

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The squad should be issued Bushmasters, Model 1’s, Oly’s, RRA’s, and a few frankenguns. This would ensure a maximum # of off target rounds impact the victim thus causing a lingering death. Or, they all crap out and they have to use them as clubs. Either way seems ok.

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I read somewhere that there is only one weapon NOT loaded with blanks, so the firing squad will never know who actually took the life of the inmate. Anybody else hear the same?

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i remember my grandfather telling me that all BUT one were live, and only one man had a blank. the idea wasn’t so that nobody would ever know who killed him, but to leave the men of the squad at least some degree of doubt, for conscience.

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this is correct.

Any seats available yet?

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Makes sense.

I never really associated the two exactly. I always just saw it as a makeshift form a execution. Been watching too many WWII/Holocaust films I guess.

Firing squad is probably the second best thing to pulling the trigger on yourself I guess.

That’s what I always thought they did.

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From my post in this thread: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=43309

Utah is the only state that still has provisions for a Firing Squad form of exectution.

The Winchester Model 94 loaded with commercial Winchester 150 grain Silvertips are used.

Utah was the first to commence executions after Capital Punishment was suspended from 1972 to 1976.

In 1977, murder Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad.

In 1996, child molester and murder John Taylor was executed by firing squad.

Both were shot from a distance of 20-25 feet. A doctor uses a stethoscope to find the heart, then places a black circular patch over the condemed persons white jumpsuit. 5 rifleman fire. One unknown gun is loaded with a blank.

Firing squad or letal injection; both are a fiasco that cost the tax payers millions of dollars. I like the firing squad, I don’t like when murders request it. They should not have a say in their fate. Their victims didn’t.

Death by Bunga-Bunga!

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that’s what i’m talkin about.

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I wonder, does he have any choice about the type of weapons used in the execution, or does he have to settle for what they choose to use?

I would like for them to issue the firing squad Model 870s with 00 Buck. That’d chew him up right nice.

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If this execution goes, I wonder if they will dust off the Model 94’s?

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Death by .25acp Glaser Safety Slugs fire out of Jennings pistols. All shooters except one has blanks. :smiley:

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Both variations of the firing squad have been used.

I read a book about executions and the results. According it’s findings, the firing squad was overall the quickest and surest form. It’s what I’d choose

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I’d prefer death by snu-snu.

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Game over.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/17/utah-man-facing-firing-squad-execution-early-friday-moved-observation-cell/

A barrage of bullets tore into Ronnie Lee Gardner’s chest where a target had been pinned over his heart. Two minutes later, the twice-convicted killer was pronounced dead as blood pooled in his dark blue prison jumpsuit.

It was the first time in 14 years that an American inmate was executed by firing squad – a method Gardner choose over lethal injection. But death penalty opponents around the world reacted with horror all the same, renewing an international debate about capital punishment in the U.S.

Gardner was the third man to die by firing squad since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Unlike Gary Gilmore, who famously said “Let’s do it” before he was shot on Jan. 17, 1977, Gardner offered few words. Asked if he had anything to say before a black hood was fastened over his head, he said simply, “I do not, no.”

The five executioners were police officers who volunteered for the task. They stood about 25 feet away, behind a wall cut with a gunport.

April 23: Convicted murderer Ronnie Gardner sits with his defense team at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, Utah.
One of their .30-caliber Winchester rifles was loaded with a blank so no one would know who fired the fatal shots. Gardner was in a straight-backed metal chair, with sandbags stacked around it to keep the bullets from ricocheting around the cinderblock room at the Utah State Prison.

Nine journalists were permitted to observe the execution, including one from The Associated Press.

When the prison warden pulled back the beige curtain covering the witness room, Gardner was strapped into the chair, his head secured by a strap across his forehead.

Harness-like straps also constrained his chest. His arms were at his sides, handcuffed and strapped to the chair. Affixed to his chest was a white cloth square about 3 inches wide bearing a black target.

The AP reporter never saw the rifles and did not hear the countdown to the trigger-pull. Utah Department of Corrections Director Thomas Patterson said the countdown went “5-4-3…” with the shooters starting to fire at the count of 2.

Seconds before the bullets hit him, Gardner’s left thumb twitched against his forefinger. When his chest was pierced, he clenched his fist. His arm pulled up slowly as if he were lifting something and then released. The motion repeated.

There was no blood splattered across the white cinderblock wall and no audible sounds from the condemned. Although the dark blue prison jumpsuit made it difficult to see, blood seemed to be pooling around Gardner’s waist.

As the medical examiner checked for vital signs, the hood was pulled back, revealing Gardner’s ashen face. His head was tilted back and to the right and his mouth slightly open. He was pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m.

About an hour later, reporters were allowed to inspect the chamber. There was a strong smell of bleach but no sign of blood. The only evidence that a man had been shot were four small holes where the bullets struck the black wood panels behind the chair.

Gardner was sentenced to death in 1985 for fatally shooting an attorney during a failed escape attempt from a Salt Lake City courthouse.

At the time, he was facing a murder charge in the 1984 shooting death of a bartender named Melvyn Otterstrom. Gardner pulled out a gun that had been smuggled into the courthouse and shot lawyer Michael Burdell in the face as Burdell hid behind a door.

In April, a judge ordered the execution to proceed, and Gardner politely declared, “I would like the firing squad, please.”

He was allowed to choose the firing squad because he was sentenced to death before Utah eliminated it as an option. State officials scrapped it in 1984 after previous executions attracted unwanted publicity.

Of the 49 executions carried out in Utah since the 1850s, 40 were by firing squad. Before Gardner’s death, the most recent was John Albert Taylor, who was executed on Jan. 26, 1996, for raping and strangling an 11-year-old girl.

Historians say the firing squad persisted in Utah long after the rest of the nation abandoned it because of the 19th century doctrine of the state’s predominant religion. Early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believed in the concept of “blood atonement” – that only through spilling one’s own blood could a condemned person adequately atone for their crimes and be redeemed in the next life.

The church no longer promotes such teachings and offers no opinion on the use of the firing squad.

The European Union issued a statement Friday expressing its “profound regret” for the execution.
“The EU reiterates its universal opposition to the use of capital punishment and urges the immediate establishment of a global moratorium on its use with a view to abolition,” the statement said.

The American Civil Liberties Union decried Gardner’s execution as an example of the “barbaric, arbitrary and bankrupting practice of capital punishment.” Religious leaders called for an end to the death penalty at an interfaith vigil Thursday evening in Salt Lake City.

“Murdering the murderer doesn’t create justice or settle any score,” said Rev. Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church.

Gardner, who once described himself as a “nasty little bugger” with a mean streak, spent his last day sleeping, reading the novel “Divine Justice,” watching the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy and meeting with his attorneys and a Mormon bishop.

Members of his family gathered outside the prison, some wearing T-shirts displaying his prisoner number, 14873.

“I don’t agree with what he done or what they done, but I’m relieved he’s free,” Gardner’s brother, Randy Gardner, said after the execution. “He’s had a rough life. He’s been incarcerated and in chains his whole damn life. Now he’s free. I’m happy he’s free, just sad the way he went.”

None of Gardner’s relatives witnessed the execution, at Gardner’s request.

“I would have liked to be there for him. I love him to death. He’s my little brother,” Randy Gardner said.

Burdell’s family opposed the death penalty and asked for Gardner’s life to be spared. Relatives of Otterstrom lobbied the parole board to reject Gardner’s request for clemency and a reduced sentence.

Otterstrom’s cousin, Craig Watson, witnessed the execution on behalf of his family.

A police officer with 35 years on the job, Watson said Gardner accepted the punishment “like a man.” Gardner, he noted, seemed calm before the hood was slipped on.

“There was no crying, no wimpering,” Watson said Friday. “When it was over with, I just had this feeling that he’s gone and we can move on.”