At inmate's request, Utah prepares firing squad

Associated Press ^ | June 8, 2010 | JENNIFER DOBNER

[Free ThinkerNY]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Barring a last-minute reprieve, Ronnie Lee Gardner will be strapped into a chair, a hood will be placed over his head and a small white target will be pinned over his heart.

The order will come: "Ready, aim..."

[Jewbacca]

“I wonder why he wants the firing squad. Odd choice.”

Something to do with mormonism and a belief that blood letting is necessary, I believe.

Or, he is a former soldier and is requesting a soldier’s death.

[Richard Kimball]

Sounds good in theory, but I am fairly certain the person with the blank will notice a reduced recoil when he fires.

If one of them shouts, "Aw CRAP!" you know he got the blank.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Being shot by a firing squad like a courageous spy serving his own country is a more dignified method of execution than a common criminal deserves IMHO. People like him should die ignominiously at the end of a rope, not a glorious hail of bullets...

[balch3]

Except Camus was wrong. When executions were public affairs, they became no more than macabre theatre. Vendors sold food, drink, and souvenirs to the crowd, which was often raucous. Nor was it a deterrent. At a time when pickpocketing was a capitol offense in England, pickpockets worked the crowds at public executions.

I’m in favor of the death penalty, but not as a public event. Public executions went behind closed doors for a reason. The people who made that decision had seen what the public events were like.

[usurper]

Good idea, prevents the one police officer with the actual bullets from being singled out and provides a mental safety valve.

Not really, there is an obvious difference when you fire a blank compared to a real round. No recoil.

[Texan Tory]

“Good idea, prevents the one police officer with the actual bullets from being singled out and provides a mental safety valve.”

The way it works is that there is only one officer out of the five who has a blank instead of an actual bullet. So, provided that all the marksmen aim correctly, the condemned prisoner should be struck by four bullets, but none of the marksmen will no which one of them fired a blank. For the each of the officers, this is supposed to provide some psychological relief in knowing that maybe he didn’t really fire a bullet killing the prisoner, so this should provide a mental safety valve as you mentioned.

[N. Theknow]

Guess he wants to go out with a bang.

[GonzoGOP]

There is a very famous essay by the French existentialist author of the 30’s and forties—Albert Camus— where he presents forth the rationale for having public executions...that is, if the death penalty is to be a deterrent, than all, including children should be shown the dire consequences.

Except that it has little effect. Most criminals think that they won't get caught. And if they get caught they don't believe that the punishment will be carried out. So the severity or ghastliness of the punishment is not a deterrent. Therefore capital punishment must be considered a specific rather than a general deterrent. IOW you are 100% sure that the condemned will never commit the crime again.

The death penalty is a disposal for societies garbage and thus should be carried out as simply and efficiently as possible. The Chinese do it right. One high velocity rifle shot at point blank range to the back of the head. Messy, but instant. And no fancy ceremony, just taking out the trash.

[GonzoGOP]

I take it you have never shot a deer and have it drop straight down and not move again? Given the choice between electrocution and firing squad,,, I'd take the bullet.

Less to go wrong. If even one of the five shooters knows his job there won't be a botched execution. There have been a bunch of botched lethal injections or electrocutions.

[peeps36]

Who came up with the idea that convicted murderers shouldn't have to suffer cruel and unusual punishment? There are certain crimes that deserve to be singled out for special types of punishment. The two career criminals who raped and murdered the doctor's family in Cheshire Ct. are a good example. They brutalized, raped and burned his wife and two young daughters to death. There is no such thing as cruel and unusual when it comes to the punishment these two scumbags deserve.

[ExGeeEye]

Agreed. It’s less to salve the soul of the shooter (who has to be a volunteer) than to provide plausible deniability against any seeker of vengeance.

[Max_850]

I guess if you wanted to know for sure you could go for a head-shot...

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

you all make excellant points.

If I am correct, Camus ‘essay was to make a statement against capital punishment...in any case.,...what about the remote island concept..like australia was for hardened criminals.

[wvguy]

Sounds good in theory, but I am fairly certain the person with the blank will notice a reduced recoil when he fires.

I've never shot a blank, but was thinking the same thing. Now I have to get some blanks and try them.

[Richard Kimball]

All kidding aside, in Texas the warden at Huntsville said he gets a lot of requests from people to open the drug lines when they do a lethal injection. They’re all turned down.

[bigredkitty1]

I don’t know the yearly average, but the death penalty means something in Texas. This bishop and everyone else opposed to the death penalty are missing the point about capital punishment. It’s a punishment for a past crime, not a deterrent for a future one. I just wish these death penalty opponents stopped and thought about the brutal deaths the victims suffered as much as they do about the animals being put down by the state.

[Wpin]

“In the words of Utah firing squad target, Gary Gilmore:

“Lets do it!””

Actually, I heard his last words were “Shoot straight you basta*ds” He left in style.

[Max_850]

In a way, I could see offering that to the victim’s family.

Not sure it would give a person any closure. But I could understand some family members taking the warden up on that offer....

[guitarplayer1953]

How about draw and quarter them? And instead of using horses use the evil SUV'S.

[paul51]

"The firing squad is archaic, it's violent, and it simply expands on the violence that we already experience from guns as a society

I knew there was something I liked about it. I just couldn't put my finger on it.