ronnie lee gardner was executed by firing squad in utah.
who was executed by firing squad in utah?
ronnie lee gardner
since 1960 there have been three executions by firing squad, all in utah: gary gilmore was executed in 1977, while john albert taylor chose a firing squad for his 1996 execution, in the words of "the new york times", "to make a statement that utah was sanctioning murder". however, a 2010 article for the british newspaper "the times" quotes taylor justifying his choice because he did not want to "flop around like a dying fish" during a lethal injection. ronnie lee gardner was executed by firing squad in 2010, having said he preferred this method of execution because of his "mormon heritage". gardner also felt that lawmakers were trying to eliminate the firing squad, in opposition to popular opinion in utah, because of concern over the state's image in the 2002 winter olympics.
execution by firing squad
the spring 1850 garroting of patsowits, a ute, was the first recorded execution in the provisional state of deseret. utah territory was established in september 1850, and it permitted condemned prisoners to choose between hanging and firing squad. in 1851, beheading was introduced as a third execution option. no prisoner chose this method and the option was eliminated in 1888. in 1955, utah state lawmakers voted to introduce the electric chair; however, the state never used electrocution due to failure to provide appropriation. forty-four executions occurred in the state of utah and utah territory before the national moratorium in 1967; six were by hanging and 38 were by firing squad. in 1958, twenty-one-year-old barton kay kirkham became the last prisoner to be hanged by the state of utah. the last pre-moratorium execution in utah took place on march 30, 1960.in 1967, when the moratorium went into effect, utah was the only remaining state to allow death row inmates to choose between firing squad and hanging. utah attempted to reintroduce death penalty statutes during the moratorium but they were struck down by the 1972 united states supreme court decision in the case "furman v. georgia". the state formally reinstated capital punishment on january 7, 1973, and the new death penalty statutes were approved by the united states supreme court with the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. the reinstatement allowed utah to move forward with the death sentences of dale selby pierre and william andrews for crimes committed in 1974 prior to the reinstatement of capital punishment. they were later executed in 1987 and 1992, respectively. on january 17, 1977, utah became the first state to execute a prisoner after the moratorium ended: gary gilmore was executed by a firing squad, having selected that method over hanging. lethal injection was introduced in 1980 and in february of that year, the utah state legislature replaced the option of hanging with the option of lethal injection.
capital punishment in utah