SALT LAKE CITY—A federal court has rejected an appeal from Utah death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner.
In a decision released Friday, the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2007 ruling by a U.S. District judge who rejected numerous claims, including that Gardner had ineffective attorneys during both his trial and appeal.
Gardner, 48, was sentenced to death for the Salt Lake City courthouse killing of attorney Michael Burdell in 1985 when Gardner was in court for a hearing on charges in the 1984 robbery and fatal shooting of another man.
Authorities say Gardner’s girlfriend smuggled a loaded gun into the courthouse, and he opened fire with it in a failed escape attempt.
The appeal was argued before a three-judge panel in February.
