Death row inmate gets to choose how he dies

Death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner will get to choose how he dies. Lawyers for the state went to court on Monday to fight it but decided not to contest it. A judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court is slated to sign an execution warrant on April 12, setting a date for Gardner's death in June.

Gardner's attorneys went to court to get documents that they argued would help him make a choice about whether to die by firing squad or by lethal injection. The documents include information on the training and expertise of the executioners, but not their identities. Gardner's attorney, Andrew Parnes, declined to comment outside of court. The Utah Attorney General's Office said it does not believe that Gardner could choose -- but decided that it would not fight it.


"Legally, our position is he does not have a right at this point," assistant Utah Attorney General Thomas Brunker told Fox 13. "But practically speaking, we're not going to contest if he makes a choice."

The Utah State Legislature did away with the firing squad as a death penalty option several years ago. But four of Utah's death row inmates are "grandfathered in."

"If Mr. Gardner would like to be executed in that format and the court orders that, then we will carry that out," said Tom Patterson, the executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections.

Gardner is accused of killing attorney Michael Burdell during an escape attempt at the Salt Lake Metro Hall of Justice back in 1985. More than 25 years later, Gardner's exhausted all of his appeals, and all that's left is a death warrant. After the judge signs the warrant, Gardner could seek a commutation of his death sentence within seven days. Under Utah's constitution, the governor doesn't have the authority to halt his execution -- that's left up to the parole board.

State corrections officials say death by firing squad could create a circus.

"It is novel for Utah," Patterson said. "We are the only state that has firing squad at this point, and so yeah, it does become a bit of a novelty, nationwide and even worldwide."