Utah Schedules Firing Squad Execution for June

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Fri Apr 23, 2010 at 11:32:57 PM EST
Tags: firing squad (all tags)

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Ronnie Lee Gardner, his appeals exhausted after 25 years on daath row, has chosen the firing squad for his June 18 execution.

How is it carried out? From a TalkLeft post in 2003 quoting a news article no longer online:

....A hood will be put over the condemned man's head and a target will be pinned over his heart. The executioners will fire simultaneously from gun portals in a separate room at the inmate, seated in a chair about 30 feet away. One of the five rifles will contain a blank so that no one will know who fired the fatal shots.

[More...]

How it started:

Utah's use of firing squads predates statehood in 1896 and is a remnant of the early Mormon belief that bloodshed is a required punishment for taking a life, said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

A legislator in New Hampshire in 2009 introduced a bill to restore executions by firing squad.

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Utah Schedules Firing Squad Execution for June | 33 comments (33 topical)

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we're such a civilized nation (nt) (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by ahazydelirium on Sat Apr 24, 2010 at 12:08:41 AM EST

This is horrible! (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by mexboy on Sat Apr 24, 2010 at 05:41:50 AM EST

I am stunned and have no words to describe how inhumane and barbaric this is.

True, but then (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by Zorba on Sat Apr 24, 2010 at 09:49:17 AM EST

I believe that all executions are inhumane. The United States "proudly" stands with such beacons of democracy and humane treatment of prisoners as Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan, and the People's Republic of China in allowing the death penalty. We need to join the 137 countries that have banned the death penalty.


"137 coundtires" (none / 0) (#11)
by diogenes on Sat Apr 24, 2010 at 10:51:23 AM EST

137 countries ban gay marriage; since when is that an argument for what we should or should not do as a country?


Are you saying gays should be executed? (none / 0) (#22)
by 1980Ford on Sat Apr 24, 2010 at 04:01:33 PM EST

Just trying to understand your logical connection.


Just think (none / 0) (#26)
by jondee on Sat Apr 24, 2010 at 08:17:04 PM EST

this shining city on a hill would be EVEN MORE violent if we didnt have that constant "deterrent" in place..Or so goes the crackbrained log


: logic.. (none / 0) (#27)
%%n