Convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, has been on death row in Utah for the last 25 years. All of his appeals have been exhausted and he was asked today by Utah 3rd District Judge Robin Reese what form of capital punishment he wants used to end his life. He told the judge in a broken voice, “I would like the firing squad, please.”
UPDATE: JUNE 18, 2010: EXECUTION PHOTOS AND VIDEO HERE.
Reese has signed the execution order stating that Gardner is to be put to death on June 18. Gardner was shackled and surrounded by 11 armed guards during the hearing.
Defense attorney Andrew Parnes will seek a stay of execution and appeal the judge’s ruling to the Utah Supreme Court. Gardner also have seven days to ask Utah’s Board of Pardons and Parole to commute his sentence to life without the possibility of parole.
This form of execution involves a five-man team firing from a set of matching rifles at the prisoners chest from a distance of 20 feet. The prisoner is hooded and restrained throughout the death process. The squad is made up of law enforcement officers from the county where the crime took place. One gun will have a blank shell in his rifle so that the men are not aware of who fired the lethal shots.
The Department of Corrections can now begin preparing for the execution in earnest. According to the department’s executive director, Tom Patterson, his group will start logistical planning, the finalization of the firing squad itself and will begin making provisions for the expected worldwide media onslaught.
Gardner was sentenced to death in 1985 for the slaying of attorney Michael Burdell during a failed escape attempt at the Salt Lake City courthouse. Burdell was shot in the head and court bailiff Nick Kirk was also shot.
Ironically, the slain lawyer was a pacifist who was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam. When he returned to the U.S. he vowed to never use a weapon on another person. For the rest of his life, he dedicated himself to helping those who couldn’t afford an attorney, and gave free legal advice.
Salt Lake City funeral director and acquaintance Rom Temu said, “Michael would not be happy at all. Michael would have fought against the death penalty. That’s who he was.”
Death by firing squad was outlawed in 2004 but four Utah inmates have been ‘grandfathered’ in and are able to chose this method because of the length of their stay on death row and the fact that they indicated a preference for this method prior to the 2004 ruling. The last two executions in this manner were Gary Gilmore in 1977 and John Taylor in 1996.
See video coverage of today’s court hearing below: