On this date, June 18,
2010, Ronnie Lee Gardner was the third Death Row Inmate to die from the firing squad in Utah. He was also the seventh
person to be executed in the State of Utah since 1976.
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Ronnie Lee Gardner
Photo by the Utah Department of
Corrections
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Gardner was executed on
the metal chair at the right side of this chamber in Utah State Prison. The two
narrow rifle ports can be seen in the middle-left. Panoramic mosaic of the
execution chamber at Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah, USA. The platform at
the left is used for lethal injection. The seat at the right and the two narrow
gun ports on the far wall of the room are used for execution by firing squad.
Built in 1998, the first person to be executed in this chamber was Joseph
Mitchell Parsons in 1999.
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Ronnie Lee Gardner (January 16,
1961 – June 18, 2010) was an American criminal who received the death penalty
for murder in 1985, and was executed by firing squad by the state of Utah in
2010. Gardner's case spent nearly 25 years in the court system, prompting
the Utah House of Representatives to introduce legislation to limit the number
of appeals in capital cases.
In October 1984, Gardner killed Melvyn John
Otterstrom during a robbery in Salt Lake City. While being transported in April
1985 to a court hearing for the homicide, he fatally shot attorney Michael
Burdell in an unsuccessful escape attempt. Convicted of two counts of murder,
Gardner was sentenced to life imprisonment for the first count and received the
death penalty for the second. The state adopted more stringent security
measures as a result of the incident at the courthouse. While held at Utah
State Prison, Gardner was charged with another capital crime for stabbing an
inmate in 1994. However, that charge was overturned by the Utah Supreme Court
because the victim survived.
In a series of appeals, defense attorneys presented
mitigating evidence of the troubled upbringing of Gardner, who had spent nearly
his entire adult life in incarceration. His request for commutation of his
death sentence was denied in 2010 after the families of his victims testified
against him. Gardner's legal team took the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which declined to intervene.
The execution of Gardner at Utah State Prison
became the focus of media attention in June 2010, because it was the first to
be carried out by firing squad in the United States in 14 years. Gardner
stated that he sought this method of execution because of his Mormon
background. On the day before his execution, The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints released a statement clarifying its position on the issue of
blood atonement of individuals. The case also attracted debate over capital
punishment and whether Gardner had been destined for a life of violence since
his difficult childhood.
Please go to two of these Unit 1012 Blog Posts to hear from the
victims’ families and also a rebuttal to the abolitionists.
