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Trent Nelson / Pool via EPA
The execution chamber at the Utah State Prison after Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad in Drape, Utah, USA, on Friday, June 18. Four bullet holes are visible in the wood panel behind the chair. Gardner, convicted of aggravated murder, a capital felony, in 1985, was executed by firing squad , becoming just the third person to be put to death this way in more than three decades.
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I lived in Utah when (1985) Ronnie Lee Gardner committed the crimes that he was executed for this morning. So much time has past between then and now. It's difficult for me to connect to two events. This doesn't mean that I'm for or against this form of punishment. It's only a recognition of how slowly the wheels of justice sometimes turn.
Yea! I would like to have been on the firing squad and known that my gun was loaded with the real thing and not a blank!
Last Stop.
Yes, Robert, the wheels of justice move at the speed of a bureaucracy.
Time passed.
Do all prisons keep items for this type of execution "on-hand" just in case someone requests it?
Or did they have to place a special order?
Wow. That didn't make much sense. I'm talking about the black sandbags, the chair, platform, what looks like a "ricochet shield," etc. Do they have procedures written down in a handbook somewhere?
It all seems so thought out...
Can you imagine being one of the officers in the firing squad. And never knowing if you were the one with the blank.
Karlee - no, not all states have this choice, or even an alternate choice. Gardner got to choose it because he was sentenced to death before the lethal injection method was introduced in Utah. Here's the article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37759499/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
I can see the need to rid society of some criminals--on some levels. The cost of feeding and housing some of the worst is a strong argument for the death penalty. The deterrant factor? I don't believe it works as far as keeping other criminals from doing their particular crimes. Of course, executing a bad guy keeps that particular bad guy from doing any other harm. Somehow, though, I have an aversion, almost physical, to the thought of killing someone. I guess I will never make a very good bad guy, or juror.
Not only because of the cost of feeding... I think there are some people who will constantly attempt to escape and continue to rape/slaughter others. For the protection of innocent lives, this is sometimes a necessity. Unfortunate, but true.
I live in TX. and yes we frequently avail our society the use of the death penalty. I agree with Mr. Hood, where too much time elapses between sentencing & ajudication and actual fulfillment of punishment. I don't feel the death penalty is a deterrent - but feel there has to be an ultimate collective statement by society that the individual being found guilty and sentenced should not be allowed to languish at the expense to the law abiding majority. This is cruel to the inmate,psychologically damaging to the victims,and expense that our society is ill-equipped to suffer.
I am in shocked and disgusted that such a method would be used for executision.....though I feel no sympathy for Garder. Why go through the hassle of strapping him up and placing sand bags around him when you can just place one bullet in his head and end it. Or why not just set him loose in a fenced area and have a little fun watching him run around trying to dodge the bullets. What would the difference be?? It seems to me that this method of execution proves that criminals and the people who legalized this method aren't that different after all.
One major difference in my mind is that this guy requested this type of execution and his victims did not. Sounds like a big difference to me. They just tried to make the execution as humane as possible--a courtesy his victims did not receive.