SALT LAKE CITY — Utah prison officials say a firing squad has executed convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner.
The 49-year-old Gardner was shot by a team of five anonymous marksmen with a matched set of .30-caliber rifles early today.
Gardner, who had a white target pinned to his chest and was strapped to a chair, was pronounced dead at 12:20 a.m.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver denied Gardner’s petition for a stay Thursday, saying allegations of a conflict of interest by the Utah attorney general’s office were without merit. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert also denied Gardner’s request for a temporary stay, saying Gardner has had “a full and fair opportunity” to have his case considered.
Late Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court also denied Gardner’s appeal.
Not the default method
Gardner was the third man killed by firing squad in the U.S. since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling reinstated capital punishment in 1976. Although Utah altered its capital-punishment law in 2004 to make lethal injection the default method, nine inmates convicted before that date, including Gardner, can still choose the firing squad instead.
Gardner’s attorney said the decision was based on preference — not a desire to embarrass the state or draw publicity to his case.
Gardner was sentenced to death for a 1985 capital-murder conviction stemming from the fatal courthouse shooting of attorney Michael Burdell during an escape attempt. Gardner was at the court because he faced a 1984 murder charge in the shooting death of bartender Melvyn Otterstrom.
Gardner made a final effort to convince the world he was a changed man, speaking emotionally in court of his desire to start a 160-acre organic farm and a program for at-risk youth. He acknowledged his own tortured trajectory to a parole board last week, saying: “It would have been a miracle if I didn’t end up here.”
A troubled life
Gardner first came to the attention of authorities at age 2 when he was found walking alone on a street in only a diaper. At age 6 he became addicted to sniffing gasoline and glue.
Harder drugs — LSD and heroin — followed by age 10. By then, Gardner was tagging along with his stepfather as a lookout on robberies, according to court documents.
After spending 18 months in a state mental hospital and being sexually abused in a foster home, he killed Otterstrom at age 23. About six months later, at 24, he shot Burdell in the face as the attorney hid behind a door in the courthouse.
“I had a very explosive temper,” Gardner said last week. “Even my mom said it was like I had two personalities.”
