Execution By Firing Squad Will Be First In 14 Years [Mormon - Open]

NPR ^ | June 17, 2010 | Jenny Brundin

[Colofornian]

Utah death-row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner is set to be executed by a firing squad on Friday. Thirty-five states allow the death penalty, but death by firing squad remains an option only in Utah.

SNIP

Every detail of April 2, 1985, is burned into her memory. Gardner was in court on a murder charge when he tried to escape. An accomplice slipped him a gun, and he shot and killed an attorney and also severely wounded George "Nick" Kirk, who was a bailiff. Kirk didn't die, but VelDean Kirk says he wasn't the same active, cheerful man anymore. She says his final years were marked by excruciating pain and depression from a sedentary life.

His daughter, Tami Stewart, feels sorry for Gardner, but she can't forgive him. She imagines him in the death chamber. "He's going to feel that fear that he put into every one of those men. He's done. We've given him more than enough," Stewart says.

Gardner did get one choice: how he would die. In court, after being told he'd exhausted his appeals, the 49-year-old made his preference known.

"I would like the firing squad, please," he told the court...

...Utah's last firing-squad execution 14 years ago attracted more than 150 news crews from across the globe. They were interested in one thing: the method of execution.

SNIP

Utah historian Will Bagley says the reason this method of execution exists is rooted in Utah's history as a Mormon sanctuary. "I think we need to be honest about it. We have the last firing squads in the country as a legacy of Mormon theology," Bagley says.

Some early Mormon leaders believed in blood atonement for the most egregious sins. "To atone for those, Jesus' blood didn't count. You had to shed your own blood," Bagley says.

[Religion Moderator]

Do not use potty language - or references to potty language - on the Religion Forum.

[MaxMax]

IMO firing squad is the best execution method. It has a certain macabre romance about it.

/grin

[Tennessee Nana]

Heres the other thread

#15 and 22 had something on the recoil and some others might to...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2536648/posts?page=43#43

[Tennessee Nana]

Thank you

[mrreaganaut]

No, I don’t think that many FReepers object to the death penalty or to traditional methods of use. Maybe some Catholics have the misimpression that the Church opposes the death penalty, but that would certainly surprise many of the Doctors of the Church; it rather reflects the fact that Euroweenies are more likely to become monsignors than otherwise.

(oh, and congrats on your upcoming wedding!)

[Religion Moderator]

Your posts 74, 76 and 79 were also removed for lack of source.

[Colofornian]

Your posts 81 and 89 have been removed because they are not sourced. When quoting any online source be sure to include the url or link. And when quoting an offline source be sure to include the name of the book or publication, issue, author, etc. Moderators need the information to confirm the source, verify copyright compliance and search for affiliation with banned source

Well, not only that but Blue Moose has not been known, to my knowledge, to be a cut-and-paster type poster. He does a real good job of being original...not coming across as a sophisticated poster. More authentic, yet not always easy to figure out where he's coming from or where's he going with his points. -- some of his posts have been historically a bit murky

Suddenly he becomes quite lucid; very apologetical and sophisticated...pops out over 260 words in three posts over four minutes (posts #74, #76, #79) that don't appear to be of an instant mix of cut & paste stuff...where he actually had to read what Reaganaut also said 'cause he was specific in responding in four minutes to three different posts (#56, #53, #73)...then within a few more minutes includes two more posts -- the ones removed by the RM...maybe in response to two other posts...

So, how many people and how many computers are operating under the Blue Moose label tonight?

5 posts in maybe 7-8 minutes...500 words total...responding very lucidly and seemingly conversationally to 3-5 different posts where you had to read those, size them up, figure out what to say, and then make some very solid points from the Mormon point of view.

All when BM, you don't have a real cut & paste or apologetic-focused rep on FM (at least that I'm aware of)...

So BM...
...did you recently take one of those speed-reading courses...
...all while getting an advanced degree in Lds apologetics?

[23 Everest]

heh heh...you said, “potty”.

[reaganaut]

IMO firing squad is the best execution method. . It has a certain macabre romance about it.

- - - -
I prefer impaling. Much more romantic and you can light the bodies on fire for a nice garden glow...

Oh sorry, I’m a death historian. Maybe that is why nobody lets me be in charge of interrogation of the Gitmo guys.

[Tennessee Nana]

Actually if it was ever me I think i would prefer a quick bullet..

but not for religious reasons

Just because of the other options

1. I hate needles..that would be a torturous way for me to die...

2. Rope burn would leave a painful mark..

3. Electrocution doesnt tickle and I’ve read The Green Mile

4. Asps are for Queens-of-the-Nile

5 Guillotines are for Queens-of-the-Seine

6. Swords are for Queens-of-the-Thames

and so on

and so on..

[Tennessee Nana]

impaling ???

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[reaganaut]

Vlad Dracul, aka Vlad the impaler. Also popular with several of the Caesars.

[sleddogs]

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Ronnie Lee Gardner’s request for a stay of execution.
31 minutes ago

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700041095/Ronnie-Lee-Gardner-meets-with-his-Mormon-bishop-with-appeals-exhausted-execution-will-proceed.html

[Tennessee Nana]

Vlad yes

When I was little I read a lot of books about russia...history, politiucs
the first time i read a book called The Kremlin...

it was a history of the various buildings of that name...burnt rebuilt etc...

You would have loved it...

it described the way the various Czars esp Ivan III Ivan IV had tortured and killed their political enemies at the Kremilin...

One favorite was to line them all up in a row on the ground (usually in the snow) cover them with planks and do Cossack dances on top of them till long after they had been squashed to death and blood was soaking through the gaps and on the ground

[BlueMoose]

THANK YOU.

[reaganaut]

ohhh...cool. I will have to research that. THANKS!

[MindBender26]

Fine, will do, but why is it Ok for the anti-Mormon bigots to engage in such activity.

[Tennessee Nana]

Its an old book

I read it when i was about 8-10 or so it was published in the 1950s

It was called The Kremlin

[MindBender26]

Oh, so you do admit you have personal conversations discussing your sexes and other items.

No wonder you have such coordinated,, bigoted eplies.

[Religion Moderator]

Ping me if you think a post is "making it personal."

For something to be "making it personal" it must be directed to another Freeper, personally. Reading the mind of another Freeper, attributing motives to him or making the thread 'about' him are all types of "making it personal."

For instance, if I said "anti-LDS people are crazy" that would not be making it personal. If I said "you're crazy" that would be making it personal.