By Willie Larger
WASHINGTON (Politically Illustrated – Ronnie Lee Gardner requested having a "firing squad" execute him on Friday, causing debate on allowing the old-style technique in Utah.
“I would like the firing squad, please,” Mr. Gardner told court Judge Robin Reese, after Ms. Reese told him his chance of appeal are limited.
Mr. Gardner was sentenced to death from killing an attorney 25 years ago while trying to escape from custody.
“I think in Utah, when it suits their purposes, they go back to the Old Testament the ‘eye for an eye’ kind of thing,” Lydia Kalish told the Associated Press, who is seeking to abolish the death penalty in Utah. “These people may be the worst of the worst, but if the best we can do is repeat the same thing, it’s so obviously wrong”.
Mr. Gardner was given the choice of a lethal injection or execution by firing squad - he picked firing squad.
Politically Illustrated
