Utah murderer Gardner chooses death by firing squad

[Mr Brown]

Utah murderer Gardner chooses death by firing squad


Gardner killed a man during an escape attempt in 1985

A convicted murderer in the US state of Utah has chosen to be executed by firing squad.
When given a choice between lethal injection or being shot, Ronnie Lee Gardner told the judge: "I would like the firing squad, please."
Of the 35 US states that have the death penalty, Utah is the only one to give firing squads as an option.

Critics say the method is a relic from the state's Wild West past and should be abolished.
The judge in Salt Lake City set Gardner's execution date for 18 June, but Gardner's lawyer said he would appeal.

Correspondents say he may still petition the state parole board to commute his sentence to life imprisonment.

Famous last words
The 49-year-old convict killed a lawyer in a shootout while trying to escape from a courthouse in 1985.
He would be only the third man to be killed by firing squad since the Supreme Court allowed states to have the death penalty in 1976.

The first man to be executed after capital punishment was re-instated was Utah murderer Gary Gilmore. He famously said "Let's do it" before facing the bullets in 1977.
The second - John Albert Taylor - attracted huge media attention for his execution in 1996.
Should Gardner's scheduled death go ahead, it is likely to garner a similar media storm, the BBC's Madeleine Morris in Washington says.

Death row convicts in Utah were for decades allowed to choose their method of execution.
State legislators removed that choice in 2004 and made lethal injection the standard method - but inmates sentenced before then still have a choice.



I would go for that, far better going out with a bang

[Bower]

Who and how many do the shooting?
How could you select volunteers?
Are there blanks among the rounds?

It must be very difficult to fire upon a shackled man.

I have held firearms in active service but a firing squad.......i sure couldnt do it.


I would add i have no interest in the convicts welfare.

[JoeMoer]

At least one person is issued with a rifle containing a blank. The executioners do not know the contents of their magazine.

May differ by country.

[Beadle]

At least one person is issued with a rifle containing a blank. The executioners do not know the contents of their magazine. May differ by country.

In Thailand, up until 2005, they used a single 'machine gunner' to kill the prisoner who was tied to a post behind a screen.

The last guy in the job was Chavoret Jaruboon and his biography is available in bookstores entitled, 'The Last Executioner'.

The Last Executioner: Memoirs of Thailand's Last Prison Executioner: Amazon.co.uk: Chavoret Jaruboon: Books

[dirtydog]

No more barbaric than a good old fashioned stoning

[graym]

Crucifixion? Line on the left, one cross each...

[panama hat]

What did they do to his tongue . . . or whatever that white thing hanging from his lower lip is

[dirk diggler]

In Thailand, up until 2005, they used a single 'machine gunner' to kill the prisoner who was tied to a post behind a screen.

The last guy in the job was Chavoret Jaruboon and his biography is available in bookstores entitled, 'The Last Executioner'.

If you get lucky on a prison visit I believe you can meet him as he still hangs around there fairly regularly.

On that note you can visit death row or any prisoner you like for that matter at no cost other than transport. They're all crying out for visitors.

Anyone been?

[wayne78]

Many who are sentenced to death are guilty. Only problem is what if they didn't do it?

Many people have, with the benefit of DNA technology, been, after convicetd of murder, found to have been wrongly convicted and imprisoned.

We had a famous case in Australia. A poor man did 12 years for a murder and it was later found that he did not commit the crime but it was in fact another person who went on the commit suicide in prison.

Had he been executed.....what then?

Humans make errors and no system is without error, hence I am against capital punishment.

__________________________________________
Bangkok Toast
Feeding a nation crap since 1534

[dirk diggler]

How would you feel about it if the prisoner pleads guilty?

Life imprisonment may seem a more suitable and sufferable punishment than the death penalty but at what cost to the taxpayer?

[dirk diggler]

Over $20k per annum Statistics in Brief - Inmate Cost Per Day

[Nawty]

I would choose firing squad also....I hate needles.

[BobR]

Anyone not from America probably would not understand that Utah is one of the right wing conservative insane states. It's the home of the Mormon Church, the history and foundation of which is almost laughable. Even blood thirsty Texas uses modern lethal injection and not a firing squad.

[crocodilexp]

How would you feel about it if the prisoner pleads guilty?

Life imprisonment may seem a more suitable and sufferable punishment than the death penalty but at what cost to the taxpayer?

Life imprisonment costs less than death penalty, when cost of judicial process is taken into account (all the appeals etc.)

After all, this is irrelevant. Punishment should not depend on cost to the taxpayer. If that was the correct criteria, either letting everyone go ($0) or bullet in the back of a head for any crime without ($10) or with very minimal due process ($10,010) would obviously be the best solution.

[BobR]

If you want to read something really disgusting, read about the botched execution in Ohio last year; they stuck the guy 20 something times with a needle trying to kill him, then finally have to give up and returned him to his cell. He's still alive. This should never have happened in a civilized country, yet no one in the prison lost his job or was prosecuted or even disciplined over the incident.

[panama hat]

This should never have happened in a civilized country

It didn't