Utah Firing Squad Execution: Ronnie Lee Gardner Pronounced Dead at 12:17 A.M.

By: Kevin Hayes
Topics: Daily Blotter

Ronnie Lee Gardner (Mug Shot)

DRAPER, Utah (CBS/AP/KUTV) At 12:17 a.m. Friday, convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was pronounced dead after a Utah firing squad fired a volley of bullets into the murderer's chest, where a target was pinned over his heart. It was the first execution by firing squad in the United States in 14 years.

Poll: Should Ronnie Lee Gardner Face Utah Firing Squad?

At a press conference held about an hour after the execution, witnesses from various press agencies described in detail what they saw. Fields Moseley, a reporter for CBS affiliate KUTV, was a witness to the execution, and at the press conference he stated that he felt the shooting death was very violent and not at all clinical. Other reporters, however, felt differently and described the scene as almost sanitary.

All press witnesses made reference to Gardner clenching his hand from the moments right before the shooting and until the curtain was drawn on the witness viewing rooms. At one point after the shooting Gardner's hand relaxed and then tensed up again according to witnesses.

In an eyewitness account, Associated Press reporter Jennifer Dobner wrote, "There was no blood splattered across the white cinderblock wall at the Utah State Prison. No audible sounds from the condemned. I couldn't see his eyes. I never saw the guns and didn't hear the countdown to the trigger-pull."

Gardner, when given the opportunity to say any last words, replied "I do not, no." A black hood was then fastened over his head, and shortly thereafter the executioners followed a count down from five to two and then fired the shots that ended Gardner's life.

Gardner was allowed to choose between the firing squad and lethal injection because he was sentenced to death before Utah eliminated the firing squad as an option in 2004. He told his lawyer he did it because he preferred it - not because he wanted the controversy surrounding the execution to draw attention to his case or embarrass the state.

As Gardner was shot, about two dozen members of Gardner's family held a vigil outside of the Utah State Prison in Draper, south of Salt Lake City. "He didn't want nobody to see him get shot," said Gardner's brother, Randy Gardner. "I would have liked to be there for him. I love him to death. He's my little brother."

The executioners were all police officers who volunteered for the task and remain anonymous. They stood about 25 feet from Gardner, behind a wall cut with a gunport, and were armed with a matching set of .30-caliber Winchester rifles. One was loaded with a blank so no one knows who fired the fatal shot. Sandbags stacked behind Gardner's chair kept the bullets from ricocheting around the cinderblock room.

Gardner was sentenced to death for the fatal shooting death of Utah attorney Michael J. Burdell during an escape attempt and shootout at the old Metropolitan Hall of Justice in downtown Salt Lake City on April 2, 1985.

Although he was handcuffed and surrounded by prison guards, a female acquaintance slipped Gardner a loaded, long-barreled .22-caliber handgun in the basement of the building just before the shooting. He shot Burdell in the head, wounded a court bailiff and was himself shot in the right shoulder before being captured on the courthouse lawn as he tried to flee.

Gardner and his defense attorneys fought to stop the execution to the end. They filed petitions with state and federal courts, asked a Utah parole board to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole, and finally appealed to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gardner spent his last day sleeping, reading the novel "Divine Justice," watching the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy and meeting with his attorneys and a bishop with the Mormon church. A prison spokesman said officers described his mood as relaxed. He had eaten his last requested meal - steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and 7UP - two days earlier.

Gardner walked willingly to his execution.

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
June 17, 2010 - Poll: Should Murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner Face Utah Firing Squad?
Complete Coverage of Ronnie Lee Gardner on Crimesider

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by asylvon August 9, 2010 6:19 AM EDT: what still beats my imagination is this: at whose expense has this criminal been living in jail for the past 25 years?????; Reply to this comment


by cwbytxiii June 23, 2010 12:34 AM EDT: They executed Ronnie Lee Gardner in Utah by firing squad recently. What caught my attention is the fact that they gave five cops Winchester 30-30 rifles to execute him. With the Winchester factory in New Haven Conn. closing down, those rifles are valuable. I could care less about Ronnie Lee Gardner. He needed to be executed and he was. But why in the world would you put valuable rifles like those Winchesters in the hands of a bunch of retarded Utah cops in the first place, and why, oh why, would you waste those valuable guns on some ****-ant criminal justice system two steps removed from Stalin's Russia? Yes, I put more value on the guns than I do Gardner's life, or for that matter, the lives of the chickens*** cops who "bravely" pulled the triggers from behind a wall with the victim strapped down and incappable of defending himself. As a side note, I'd like to see those same cops go up against somebody capable of defending themselves; they'd lose. Anyway, my complaint is that the Utah government has a stash of Winchester rifles that they're using instead of selling to those of us that could actually put the rifles to use. They're putting quality weapons in the hands of semi-retards that they call cops, and for what? The cops should be shot with those rifles. They shouldn't be using them; they shouldn't be allowed to touch firearms of that quality. Give the retards whatever 22s the local pawn shot can't sell; don't give them good guns. That's how you would treat a drunk monkey, and that's how those cops should be treated. That's all they are; retarded animals. Quality firearms should be reserved for everyone else; certainly not a bunch of cowardly cops who can't even shoot the guy while they are looking at him.; Reply to this comment


by yerhumps June 20, 2010 12:45 AM EDT: Firing squads. My, what a compliment to our barbaric and uncivilized country. America is damned.; Reply to this comment


by markenriquez71 June 19, 2010 10:50 AM EDT: WONDERFUL one less loser on the earth, look at how much of a sissy he was when facing his death, trying to get a stay of execution, he wasn't thinking about that when he murdered someone what a cowardly piece of ****; Reply to this comment


by petewestwood June 18, 2010 5:29 PM EDT: If a person is sentenced to the death penalty it should be dealt with quickly. Not the next day, but a reasonable time that is not 25 years. Because then and only then, will ?justice? be served to the lost ones, and healing can begin for the inmates family and friends.

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/06/the-perils-of-ronnie-gardners-firing-squad-execution/; Reply to this comment


by newsterI June 18, 2010 3:53 PM EDT: Buh BYE!!!; Reply to this comment

by betterusa June 18, 2010 10:32 AM EDT

Michael J. Burdell's family did not have the chance to hold a vigil before his death. Michael J. Burdell did not have a choice how he should die. These defense attorneys always go beyond the limits to try to get this guilty scum off. Who was paying for the appeals? 25 years before his real sentence took place - what a shame it takes this long for justice to happen to someone that was 100 percent guilty.

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by CBSTV June 19, 2010 12:06 AM EDT: "Justice" was not served by killing Mr. Gardner. The killing of Mr. Gardner did not make anyone whole. It did not remedy a wrong. It was an act of revenge.

I would have greater respect for death penalty proponents if they were more transparent in their true motivation, a desire for violent vengeance.


by extremophil June 18, 2010 10:15 AM EDT: "He didn't want nobody to see him get shot". Well, I bet his victims didn't want anyone to see them shot either.; Reply to this comment


by lkrupp June 18, 2010 9:44 AM EDT: Justice at last.; Reply to this comment


by macadou June 18, 2010 9:18 AM EDT: The attorneys who defend the creeps are making money paid by the state that is why he lasted as long as he did appeal after appeal cost money.; Reply to this comment