The State of Utah is planning to execute its first inmate since Joseph Mitchell Parsons in 1999 tonight (after midnight, Utah time).
A five-member firing squad is scheduled to shoot Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, at the state prison in Draper. Due to the highly-debatable nature of the execution, it is getting more national coverage than most executions. Ironically, another controversial execution was scheduled to take place in Oklahoma, but the controversy regarding the condemned man's guilt led to the Sooner State's governor Brad Henry (D) to commute the sentence to life imprisonment.
There is no such controversy regarding the guilt of Gardner who was sentenced to death for the 1985 shooting murder of defense attorney Michael Burdell at a courthouse in Salt lake City. Gardner was standing trial for the murder of a bartender.
The Salt Lake City newspaper "The Deseret News" recently published a story regarding how Gardner was severely mentally and physically abused as a child, and how he was frequently sent to state institutions when he was as young as ten years old.
According to another article in "The Deseret News" (this one by Dennis Romboy, which was published today), Gardner is steadfastly refusing to eat anything though he did have his last meal on Tuesday which consisted of a steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and a 7Up.
Uthans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is holding prayer services starting at 5:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m., east coast time). The abolition group will then hold a vigil outside the state capitol building in Salt Lake City from 9 p.m. until midnight.
Several militant pro-death penalty supporters posted over-the-top messages on a message board for comments regarding the Gardner case on the web site of "The Deseret News."
These included the following sentiments:
"Can't wait for the sound of gunfire in the distance all the way in San Diego."
"Last meal should've been a MickeyD's Happy Meal."
"I get tired of those who say he didn't have a chance because of his childhood."
"I am tired of hearing hearing other countries don't have the death penalty. We aren't other countries."
And, perhaps the most outlandish of all:
"I know it (the death penalty) deters me from killing anyone."
But, there were several posters with the opposing view that I fully agree with. This included a person who said that as a Mormon (it should be pointed out that I am agnostic) she was very troubled that people affiliated with his/her church hold such venemous views.
This was similar to a stance taken by The Rev. Carolyn Tanner, a retired Episcopalian minister from Utah, whose statement was posted on the Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty web site:
"As Christians we condemn the taking of a human life, recalling that Jesus himself was a victim of state-sponsored murder. His death holds before our eyes the poverty of capital punishment and its capacity to dehumanize those who carry out its sentence."
The same organization posted an editorial from "The Salt Lake Tribune" which stated that: "the legal and ethical argument supporting capital punishment in Utah has been eroding like sand castles of high tide."
Similarly, Diane Rust-Tierney, the executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (based in Washington, DC) said the following in a column she wrote for the online journal "The Huffington Post:"
"Despite the curiousity generated by the high-profile manner of imposing the punishment (she was refering to the Utah case), the death penalty is on the wane in America."
NOTE: For those of you who reside in Tashkent, Uzbekistan,and might not be entirely familiar with American pop culture, the above image is from the 1971 Clint Eastwood film "Dirty Harry." Of course, we also realize that people in Uzbekistan (who I gather might actually be reading my blogs on a regular basis) might be far more hip than many of my fellow Americans might realize!
UPDATE: Gardner was executed by a firing squad in Draper, Utah. I must profess outrage over things that death penalty proponents posted in regards to an article about the execution. First, there is this myth that those of us opposed to capital punishment feel more sympathy for the killer than his victims. This is utter nonsense, and it illustrates the pure hate and venom we get from the other side. Second, these uber-partisans point out that it is wrong to compare executions to the crucifixion of Jesus because Christ was not a murderer. But, they ignore the fact that the death penalty has evolved into a method in which people in power suppress their opponents. This is one reason why the death penalty no longer exists in my late father's county, Turkey. But, their reasoning also makes me further realize that many people who proclaim to be Good Christians are truly hypocrites. As for the name of the man who was to be executed in Oklahoma for a crime he may very well have not committed, it is Jeff Matthews.
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