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Last week, John David Duty was executed by the State of Oklahoma and in doing so, Mr. Duty made the history books – we may all remember his name for many years in the future as the first man to be executed in the same way that vets put down beloved pets.  

Because, while other states are putting their execution schedules on hold due to a lack of drugs needed for the lethal execution method, some states are moving forward with innovative execution procedures.  Which should give us all great concern.  Here’s why:

First, there was the switch to a single-drug execution method led by Ohio.

It’s been over a year since Ohio changed its method of capital punishment to a single-dose lethal injection method.  Ohio argued that it did so to be merciful after the botched execution of Romell Broom, where witnesses saw Mr. Broom’s agony during an attempted three-drug cocktail form of lethal injection.

Some debate was had over this change — it’s easier to kill with one injection rather than three.  Was this constitutional?  Wasn’t this getting pretty close to the same methods used to euthanize dogs and cats?

Next, Arizona buys sodium thiopental overseas to circumvent a domestic shortage.

Then came the shortage of chemicals used in these lethal injection procedures.  Arizona opted to buy the drug that was traditionally used but no longer available domestically via an overseas supplier.  Not vetted by the FDA, opting for the British product has been made subject to constitutional scrunity and the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Arizona execution of Jeffrey Landrigan with foreign-made sodium thiopental. 

Now, Oklahoma takes it one step further: using readily available toxic drug used by vets to execute a human being.

Oklahoma’s answer to the shortage of sodium thiopental?  Try pentobarbital as a substitute.  Pentobarbital: the exact same drug that veteriarians all over the country use to put down pets.  After all, they could buy it domestically right?

So, earlier this month, Oklahoma executed John David Duty with a three-drug cocktail that included pentobarbital in lieu of sodium thiopental.  The only difference between Mr. Duty’s manner of death and the manner of death implemented by vets all over the country that same day was that Mr. Duty had two additional injections given to him. 

One wonders if Ohio would even grant him that mercy.

And, where is the public outcry to this slippery slope we’re sliding down in how executions are being done in this country?

The Huffington Post wrote about the Duty Execution and as of this post, has received almost 800 comments to the story. 

Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center has been quoted in the news media as predicting other states may follow Oklahoma’s lead since it’s an easy answer to the drug shortage.

Over at New Scientist, there is a short discussion on the event – with a warning that if not properly administered, pentobarbital will only paralyze and not kill.  Meaning, the man lays on the gurney unable to move but not dead.  Sounds cruel, doesn’t it?  Of interest, the single comment to the New Scientist article:

Speaking as a veterinary surgeon, I should point out that pentobarbital is an anaesthetic and causes unconsciousness before anything else – certainly not paralysis!. It kills in overdose, which is how we use it, by depressing respiration and then stopping the heart. If an underdose is given it can cause temporary excitement at the worst.

So, if we as a nation continue to blur the lines between executing men and euthanizing dogs, then let’s hope at least that we get the dosage right. 

Okay, we’re aware that there is a national shortage of  thiopental sodium, one of the three drugs legally okayed to be used in execution by lethal injection.  The result has been delaying some executions.  In at least one instance, an execution kept to the calendar as the needed drug was purchased from an overseas supplier (not FDA-approved) (Arizona’s execution of Jeffrey Landrigan using a British product).

Over in Oklahoma, they’re got a different take on things, apparently.  Because in Oklahoma, news is that they are considering substituting pentobarbital for thiopental sodium — and in case you don’t recognize that drug, pentobarbital is the drug that vets have been using for years, to put down beloved family pets.  

So, Oklahoma appears to be answering "no" to the question of whether or not there is any difference between euthanizing animals and executing human beings.  Next question, will Oklahoma ask its vets to oversee the execution process since doctors are prohibited by their ethical oaths from doing so? 

The issue will be brought before federal judge Stephen Friot of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, in a hearing set in Oklahoma City on November 19, 2010, on whether or not Oklahoma can substitute pentobarbital for thiopental sodium.  Judge Friot has been on this federal bench since 2001, appointed by President George W. Bush to the federal bench after practicing law for almost 30 years. 

Within thirty days of this hearing, on December 16, 2010, John David Duty is scheduled to be executed by the State of Oklahoma. If Oklahoma’s request is granted, Mr. Duty may will be the first man executed in this country through the use of pentobarbital. 

Here’s a question for the bench and bar’s consideration:  with the U.S. Supreme Court’s approval of Arizona’s overseas supplier, then why isn’t Oklahoma following Arizona’s precedent?  Can’t an argument be made that this is exactly what the U.S. Supreme Court was suggesting be done in view of the drug shortage? 

Two nights ago (on Tuesday), Arizona executed Jeffrey Landrigan by lethal injection after the United States Supreme Court (5-4) okayed going forward, even though there is a national shortage of sodium thiopental, one of the three drugs used in the lethal injection "cocktail" that is used to kill the condemned man. 

Sodium thiopental works as an anesthetic, preventing pain and inducing sleep.  Legally, that’s important because the federal constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, right?

Problem is, as we’ve written about before, there’s a shortage of sodium thiopental in this country – and some states are stopping their executions because they don’t have the drug to use.  Arizona’s answer to the shortage?  Buy overseas.

Jeff Landrigan’s lawyers sought relief from the U.S. Supreme Court under the argument that the foreign source meant that the drug might or might not meet American drug standards and therefore, only domestic or federally approved drugs should be used in executions. 

The High Court disagreed, opining that "…[t]here is no evidence in the record to suggest that the drug obtained from a foreign source is unsafe … speculation cannot substitute for evidence that the use of the drug is ‘sure or very likely to cause serious illness and needless suffering.’"  (Read the Order here.)

So, Arizona apparently used a British drug to execute Jeffrey Landrigan on Tuesday.  This would be the first execution on American soil using a foreign drug as a means of execution. 

What happens next?  Texas crosses to a border town for a quick batch of knock-out drugs when it runs out of sodium thiopental in a couple of months?   

Sodium thiopental is a critical component of the three-drug cocktail that makes up the lethal injection procedure for most executions in this country.  It’s the drug that makes the person lose consciousness, before the other two drugs first cause paralysis and then stop the heart.  (We’ve posted about the procedure in detail here.)

Drug Manufacturer Hospira, Inc. is Out of Product

Sodium Thiopental isn’t made by many manufacturers — in fact, there is only one company in the United States that makes the drug, Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Illinois.  Hospira doesn’t have any more sodium thiopental to provide:  the company is reporting that it cannot ship out any more of its product until January 2011. 

Why?  Hospira can’t make the drug until its own suppliers can ship Hospira the materials needed to make it.  That’s not going to happen until January at the earliest.  (Sidenote: it’s really eerie to know that Hospira makes this drug of death when you check out their friendly, health-oriented web page — no wonder there’s reports that Hospira isn’t at all happy that its product is being used in killing people.)

Different States Responding Differently to the Shortage

California has decided that it will reschedule all California executions set after September 30, 2010, because of the sodium thiopental shortage. 

Oklahoma and Kentucky are on hold; Arizona is still trying to find some supply before an execution set to occur next month. 

Texas has enough on hand, and the shortage isn’t impacting the Texas Execution Schedule, which has three executions set before the end of the year.  Surprise.

California’s Scheduled Execution of Albert Greenwood Brown on Thursday Has Been Stopped

And, California’s attempt to use the single-drug method in the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown this Thursday – the first execution to occur in California in five years?  Not happening. 

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against the State of California, and ordered the Albert Greenwood Brown case returned to the lower court judge for procedural errors.  

The federal appellate court’s order came down just after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had halted the Brown Execution for one day, apparently to coincide with the state Attorney General of California announcement that the Sodium Thiopental shortage would halt all the state’s recently scheduled executions until sometime in 2011. 

When the drug is back on the market, wonder if California will have the money to pay for it?

Virginia Death Row inmate Teresa Lewis, 41, has ordered her Last Meal:  fried chicken, sweet peas, and either German chocolate cake or apple pie for dessert, along with a Dr.Pepper.  Despite the efforts of lots of folk – including author John Grisham, for example – Teresa Lewis will die by lethal injection at the hands of the State of Virginia tonight unless nothing short of a miracle happens. 

Today, Teresa Lewis May Make History as the 1st Woman Executed by Virginia Since 1912

Lewis’ final appeal was blocked by the United States Supreme Court just last week.  She has no more state appellate avenues to pursue.  Virginia Governor  Bob McDonnell could offer clemency, but he’s already rejected Teresa Lewis’ request once and there’s not much hope that Governor McDonnell will change his mind at the eleventh hour.  

Governor McDonald Follow Ohio Governor Strickland’s Recent Clemency Example? Doubtful.

Even Bianca Jaggar’s plea, published today in the Huffington Post, may not be powerful enough to sway the governor.  Maybe Governor McDonald is remembering how Ohio Governor Ted Strickland granted clemency recently in the Kevin Keith case, and now he’s trailing in the polls. 

My Perspective Was Asked by the Palm Beach Post – Here’s The Gist of It

Given the fact that we don’t often see women executed in this country, I was contacted by the Palm Beach Post to provide my perspective on the Teresa Lewis matter.  You can read the entirety of the article by reporter Daphne Duret online, entitled "Impending execution of Virginia woman brings spotlight to rarity of females on death row " 

As I related to Ms Duret and her readers, it has been my experience that mitigation is a powerful force for female defendants in a trial where the prosecution is seeking the death penalty.   When  a woman is found guilty of murder, juries seldom decide that a death sentence is appropriate.

A wide variety of mitigation factors usually exist in the personal histories of women who are on trial for capital murder, and these circumstances usually help juries to opt for mercy.  Women accused of homicide are always broken in some way — there are histories of abuse, there are mental health issues, there are reasons for why their life path has resulted in their facing the jury in a death case. 

Key Issues in Teresa Lewis’ Case – No Jury, Contributions of Male Co-Defendants

Perhaps the key issue in Teresa Lewis’ case is that there was no jury involvement.  Teresa Lewis forego her right to a jury of her peers, and her criminal trial was in essence a plea of guilty and a sentence by the judge. 

However, another key issue is a point made by my colleague and mitigation expert Rosalie Bolin in the Palm Beach Post article: even when a woman is sentenced to death, they are usually sentences that are reduced later on in the process.  As Ms. Bolin points out, this is especially true when it’s a multi-defendant case like Teresa Lewis’ crime: the men who are co-defendants are usually found to be more responsible for the violence than the female.

There is a lot of mitigating evidence that a jury never heard before Teresa Lewis was sentenced to die for the murders of her husband and stepson (admitted homicides committed for life insurance money proceeds): 

  • the actual murderers, Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller, received only life sentences.
  • Teresa Lewis never held a weapon
  • Shallenberger, before his suicide, admitted that he – not Lewis – was the mastermind of the two murders-for-money  
  • Both male co-defendants would claim that Teresa Lewis was the follower of Shallenberger, doing as he wanted
  • IQ testing reveals Teresa Lewis (before sentencing) at  full scale IQ of 72, which is borderline mental retardation
  • After sentencing, psychological examination of Teresa Lewis revealed that she has  "multiple functional deficits, " and functions as a 12-14 year old 

Still, Teresa Lewis in all likelihood will die tonight.  Mitigation factors do exist in our statutes, but mercy is something bigger than laws written on books. 

It must exist in the hearts and souls of those setting in judgment — and now, after one man setting in judgment sentenced Teresa Lewis to die, we all await to see how much mercy (or growing public outcry) may now sway another man, the governor of Virginia. 

In Kentucky, over 22 years ago, Gregory L. Wilson was sentenced to death for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Deborah Pooley.  A co-defendant is serving a life sentence. 

Gregory Wilson should not be executed, many agree, but the grounds for stopping his execution are separate and strong:  there are those arguing against Wilson’s execution because of his mental retardation.  There are others fighting against execution because of the shoddy indigent defense he was provided by the state of Kentucky at trial. 

1.  Indigent Defense Crisis Never More Obvious than in Gregory Wilson’s Murder Trial.

There are lots of details surrounding the woefully inadequate defense that Mr. Wilson was provided when he was tried for murder back in 1987.  In what some have labeled a "sham trial," not only did Gregory Wilson not have death-qualified counsel for his case, the state only allotted $2500 as a fee for his legal team. 

Two thousand five hundred dollars for a DEATH CASE.  This is so ridiculous as to be insulting to us all. Right to counsel is a constitutional right — and that is right to effective assistance of counsel, not just some kind of sham situation.  $2500 on its face should stop this execution. 

At this point, it starts to sound like a Coen Brothers movie, but it’s the total truth: the trial judge in Greg Wilson’s murder trial actually stuck a note on the door to the courthouse: "PLEASE HELP. DESPERATE. THIS CASE CANNOT BE CONTINUED AGAIN."  No wonder.  Where could the judge find responsible lawyers who could financially bear to take this case?  Lawyers must be fiscally responsible: they have staff with salaries to pay; they have families with mortgages to meet. 

Result?  Two lawyers volunteered.  The first, John Foote, had no experience in felony cases, much less murder cases, much less death penalty ones.  The second, William Hagedorn, was pseudo-retired, gave his office number as the phone number for a local bar, and didn’t bother to show for over half the trial. 

Neither defense attorney interviewed, subpoenaed, or investigated as they needed to do.  Evidence that would have helped Wilson was never, ever presented to the jury.  It’s been reported that Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, views Wilson’s case as one of the worst examples of inept counsel in a death case he’s seen. I’m sure a lot of people agree with Mr. Bright.

2. Pope Benedict XVI , Several Bishops, and Others Urge Mercy for Kentucky’s Gregory L. Wilson Due to His Mental Issues.

Yesterday, the Pope joined with several Kentucky Bishops and over 400,000 Catholics in requesting that the Governor of Kentucky use clemency power to stop the execution of Gregory Wilson.  (Read the letter to the Governor by the Pope’s American representative here.)

It seems that Greg Wilson tests with an IQ of 62, and the usual demarcation for mental retardation in the United States is 70 or below.  Still, his execution has not been halted as cruel and unusual. 

Meanwhile, on a challenge to the lethal injection execution method, the federal appellate court has ruled that Mr. Wilson waited too long to bring up this issue.  What? 

Yes, the 6th Court of Appeals denied Gregory Wilson’s appeal on the basis of controlling precedent regarding the execution method.  Nevermind this man conceptually cannot understand the opinion that they’ve issued.   Read their full opinion here. 

California re-instituted the death penalty in 1978; however, California has not executed anyone since February 2006, when Federal District Judge Jeremy Fogel stayed the execution of Michael Morales based upon Mr. Morales’ arguments against lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment. 

Federal Judge Fogel Has a Big Decision to Make

Now, after four years have passed without anyone on Death Row being executed by the state, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed motions before Judge Fogel, fighting for removal of his stay because California "… now has presumptively valid regulations for carrying out lethal injections." 

Included in the State’s request was the revelation that California planned to proactively file papers for new execution dates be set for Mr. Morales as well as several other men who set on Death Row (and no longer have any appellate options available to them). 

Judge Fogel is considering Attorney General Brown’s request.  Part of his consideration has to be not only the new lethal injection procedures that California has in place, but the new death chamber located at San Quentin facility — together, do they resolve his prior concerns about the unconstitutionality of the California execution procedure? 

State Judge Adams Stands Firm: No Executions Until She Rules

California’s Marin County Superior Court Judge Verna Adams has a say here, as well, and she’s not dancing with Jerry Brown.  Yesterday, Judge Adams affirmed that the Order she issued in 2007, halting executions by lethal injection until new state regulations could be adopted, remains in effect. 

She has not changed that 2007 Order, and Judge Adams reaffirms that until she issues another court order, her 2007 Order remains in effect.  No executions until she says so. 

Attorney General Jerry Brown reports that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked him to appeal Judge Adams since new regulations became effective on Monday. 

Death Warrants Issued Despite State Judge and Federal Judge 

Regardless of both a federal judge and a state judge, the State of California has started issuing death warrants.  Albert Greenwood Brown was the first Death Row inmate in over four years to get a death warrant, notification that the State has scheduled his execution for September 29, 2010. 

The Department of Corrections has told the media that Mr. Morales and five other men should be receiving their death warrants soon. 

California Death Row May Prove a Failed Strategy for Many

California has lots of folk sitting on its Death Row right now.  In fact, we’ve written about how some California defendants actually prefer a sentence of death these days, because they live in better conditions on Death Row than they might face with a standard life sentence.  Knowing that California was not executing anyone, savvy defendants were asking for capital punishment as a strategic decision on how their future days would be spent. 

Billy Joe Johnson’s request for a death sentence (which was granted) has made the national news, shining a spotlight upon the advantages of California Death Row.  Death Row residents get single cells (they don’t have to share a cell); their cells are bigger; they get more phone calls; they get to go outside every day, over the lunch hour; and more. 

California Is Broke: Is Money the Elephant in the Room Here? 

We’ve had several guest posts here discussing the California budget crisis and the amount of money that could be saved if California were to take the death penalty off its books.  Millions of dollars are at issue here, in a state that is known to be strapped for cash. 

Is it a coincidence that suddenly, in an election year, executions are on the fast track in California?  Or is money the real reason that after four years, death warrants are suddenly being issued for executions within 30 days time — curious isn’t it? 

Yesterday, Sharon Keller learned the discipline that she would be receiving from the Texas Judicial Commission after a review of her actions as Chief Justice of Texas’ highest criminal court on the day that Michael Richard was executed by lethal injection.(Read the ruling in its entirety here.)

It’s a story we’ve been following for a long while now, waiting to see what would happen to Justice Keller after a shocking series of events that Execution Day afternoon. 

Almost three years have past since Sharon Keller’s infamous response, "the Clerk’s office closes at 5," and around a year since a fact-finding trial judge determined that nothing should happen to Justice Keller – that the mere "public humiliation she has surely suffered" was more than sufficient sanctioning of her conduct.

What Justice Sharon Keller Did on Michael Richard’s Execution Day 

Justice Sharon Keller, as you will recall (the day’s events are summarized in the Commission’s Ruling), went home early on the day that (1) the United States Supreme Court announced it was going to be reviewing the constitutionality of lethal injection method of killing in Baez; and (2) Michael Richard was scheduled to die, by lethal injection. 

Justice Keller went home to meet a repairman.

Attorneys for Richard had literally hours to file the paperwork with the Texas court to stop the execution, but it’s safe to assume – in fact, now there’s been testimony – that the Texas high court was expecting the filing.  There was already an execution day procedure set in place at the court, and another Justice was waiting to get the paperwork. 

No one expected the Texas court to substantively change the state opinion on Richard’s conviction and pending execution.  All that was needed was the Texas court’s denial, so that the defense attorneys could substantiate to the U.S. Supreme Court that state remedies had been exhausted.  It was almost a rubber stamp of the documents, once they actually got filed with the Texas court. 

As detailed in the 19-page ruling issued by the Texas Commission, instead of that execution day procedure being followed, the clerk called Justice Keller at home when the attorneys had technological problems and called to say they’d need to file shortly after 5 o’clock (not unheard of, this happens all over the country).  Instead of following the internal court execution day procedure — i.e., telling the clerk to check with the Justice on stand-by — Justice Keller issued her Red Queen directive that we’ve all heard about for so long.

Sharon Keller Keeps Her Job, Gets a Hand Slap

And for this, she gets a hand slap.  Technically, she’s received a "PUBLIC WARNING" from the Commission.  Keller could have lost her job, been removed from the bench, but she wasn’t. 

Within the ruling, which deserves reading in its entirety, Keller is found to have failed to give "…Richard access to open courts or the right to be heard according to law," which seems serious enough.  But nothing follows.  Almost nothing.   

Tactful language skirts around the reality that the man died. 

The bottom line here is that in hindsight, we know that lethal injection would be found constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and that Michael Richard’s execution probably would have gone forward (this is Texas, remember) within the year to 18 months following September 25, 2007.  Or maybe not.  Maybe Michael Richard would be alive today. 

We absolutely know that Michael Richard and his loved ones were denied those days and months between September 2007 and whenever he might have been ultimately executed because of the cavalier actions of Chief Justice Sharon Keller. 

The Imbalance Continues

Today, Sharon Keller has kept her job and experienced some social discomfort.  Or as the fact-finder described it, some "public humiliation." 

How do we balance that against the time period of living that was stolen from Michael Richard?  How can we? 

Troy Davis may well be an innocent man setting on Georgia’s Death Row, and things came closer to Davis proving his innocence as U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore heard two days of evidence this week. 

Judge Moore did so because the United States Supreme Court mandated that the district judge had to hold an evidentiary hearing.   That’s not something that happens every day. 

Background of the Troy Davis Case

Troy Davis has consistently maintained his innocence (more background here), and at trial, there was no physical evidence connecting him to the murder.  Nine of the ten witnesses who pointed the finger at Mr. Davis have recanted, and over 60,000 people signed a petition demanding that Davis get a new trial.  Among them, the Pope, Desmond Tutu, and former President Jimmy Carter. 

Nineteen at the time of the crime, Troy Davis is now 41 years old.  His entire adult life has been focused on a fight to prove his innocence and avoid the penalty of death by lethal injection that has been imposed upon him.

The Two Day Hearing This Week: What Happened June 23 – 24, 2010

Judge Moore skipped opening statements, and went directly to presentation of evidence.  Troy Davis’s defense attorneys faced a high burden: pursuant to the Supreme Court’s dictate, they had to legally show – "clearly establish" – that Mr. Davis was innocent of the August 19, 1989, shooting of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. 

Key to their arguments: the appellate reviews of the first trial consistently dealt with legal technicalities, but never considered evidence that simply was not available at that trial.  They are fierce in their position that this new evidence, once considered, inevitably leads to a determination of innocence.  The State of Georgia, of course, maintains that the new evidence doesn’t change a thing.

If you’re thinking that this seems a bit hinky, the defense having to prove innocence, you’re right.  Usually, defense counsel works in an arena where someone is innocent until proven guilty.  Apparently the Supreme Court was swayed enough to allow Troy Davis a chance to present evidence, but did not go so far as provide him a true, 100% new trial of the matter. 

What Was Presented This Week

The defense team prepared 14 witnesses for testimony, among them several of the first trial’s eyewitnesses who have changed their testimony, blaming coercion by the police for first pointing the finger at Troy Davis.  Davis’ attorneys also presented 24 documentary exhibits to substantiate their argument that this was a case of mistaken identity – the police got the wrong guy at the get-go, mistaking Troy Davis for the true killer. 

Judge Moore did not allow those witnesses prepared to testify that Sylvester "Redd" Coles had confessed to them that he was the man who killed MacPhail. 

The strongest piece of evidence brought by the State?  Among 61 pieces of evidence, documents regarding a pair of black shorts taken from Troy Davis’ mother’s dryer on August 19th, purportedly spotted with human blood. This evidence didn’t make it into the first trial, because the trial judge ruled that the police didn’t have a proper warrant when they searched the dryer. 

Judge Moore did allow closing arguments, although he skipped opening.  Defense attorneys summed up their rush to judgment analysis of the Troy Davis trial long ago.  Prosecutors stuck by their story that there wasn’t enough evidence to change anything.  Troy Davis, they argued, should still die as punishment for the shooting because he had not met the evidentiary burden otherwise. 

What’s Next?  Legal Briefs and a Ruling

This fact-finding phase of this new hearing took two days, but that is not the end of things.  Judge Moore has given each side until July 7, 2010, to file their legal briefs with him.  He promise to rule as soon as possible thereafter. 

Of course, Judge Moore’s determination is probably months and months down the road.  After that, little is left for Troy Davis: he could be found innocent, or he could face execution for the 4th time.

Let us keep watch and pray. 

Lethal injection is so commonplace in the United States as the preferred method of imposing capital punishment that many assume it’s the only option out there.  That’s not true.

In Utah, it was only recently that their state legislature nixed the option of a death penalty by firing squad – and when it acted, four men sat on Death Row for whom the new law did not apply.  These four men were "grandfathered" into the prior law, the execution methods that were options when they were sentenced are legally still available to them today.

Ronnie Lee Gardner is one of these men – and he is choosing bullets over a needle

This week, Utah Attorney General Thomas Brunker announced that the State will not contest Gardner’s motion to the court that he be killed by a firing squad instead of the standard lethal injection procedure.  Assuming that Mr. Gardner files his motion promptly, the judge could rule and his June 2010 execution may well be the first execution by firing squad that this country has seen in years. 
 

Utah’s Methods of Execution and The Options Still Available Today in the U.S.

As horrific as the image of a firing squad may be in the 21st Century, lethal injection has only been an option for execution in Utah since the 1980s .  Up until around 25 years ago, Utah used firing squads as its preferred execution method. 

Utah law originally had beheading on the books as a means of capital punishment, but it was never used.  Hanging was also a means of imposing the death penalty, used until the late 1950s. (For other execution methods used by the various states, read our prior post discussing the forms of capital punishment.) 

Firing Squad Executions in Utah

Assuming that Mr. Gardner gets his wish, his name will be added to 1996’s firing squad execution by the State of Utah  of John Taylor, and the infamous Gary Gilmore’s death by Utah firing squad in 1977. 

We can only assume as the procedure continues, and the execution date draws near, that Ronnie Gardner’s execution will receive extended media coverage.  For better or worse, it’s a good guess that a lot of people will want to rubber-neck the firing squad execution, and lots of media outlets will be only to happy to serve them.