Inmate set to die by firing squad asks high court to stay execution
Washington (CNN) -- A Utah death row inmate who would become only the third person to die by firing squad in the United States in 33 years appealed to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking a last-minute stay of execution.
Ronnie Lee Gardner's lawyers filed the first of what are expected to be several appeals to the justices. He is scheduled to be put to death early Friday for the shooting death of attorney Michael Burdell during a botched escape attempt from custody in 1985 at a Salt Lake City, Utah, courthouse.
It's funny, actually. They're requesting a stay of execution because their argument is that the execution has taken too long. So they're... holding it up... because it's been held up... and that's why it shouldn't happen? Uh... No, I'm sorry. You don't get to play both ends of the system against each other. Your side called for the appeals. Your side dragged out the process. You don't get to complain at the 11th hour that it took too long.
There's plenty of deterrent factor here - once they riddle your worthless carcass with rifle fire, you ain't hurtin' anyone ever again...
What I liked was this:
Five anonymous marksmen will use matching .30-caliber rifles, standing behind a wall cut with five gunports. One of the rifles will be an "ineffective" round, similar to a blank, which delivers the same recoil as a live round. That ensures none of the riflemen will know who delivered the fatal shot.
The marksmen fire from a distance of 25 feet. The inmate is blindfolded, strapped to a chair and a target pinned to his chest.
UT: FUCK YEAH
".30-caliber rifles" - I wonder if they're M1 Garands or 1903 Springfields? It'd be pretty damned cool for either; although I'd wager in this day and age it's probably Remington 700s in .308 (G-d's Own Caliber). In any case, it's a damn effective method - four rifle rounds to center-of-mass from 25 feet isn't going to leave any question about effectiveness. About the only method more effective is the guillotine - which would be pretty damned kickass in its own right, especially if the head were mounted on a pike...
Time for a high-velocity dirt nap after too long of a wait...
That is all.
16 comments:
I wonder how they make an 'ineffective round' that has the same recoil as a real one.
I hope that they are not Springfields or all those the champion marksmen and weapon experts will shoot 10 feet over the prisoner's head a la "Top Shot."
Oh, no, wait, they won't miss.
Shootin' Buddy
I remember reading about this type of execution in Utah a few years ago. At the time, they were using Winchester lever action rifles. Probably '94s.
Jay,
Look up Gary Gilmore from the late 1970's. I believe the rifles were .30-30 lever-guns.
I do love a classic.
- Brad
I have a problem with this. Why bother with a "inneffective" round? Why not have a lottery instead (you know to make up for some of the money this man has cost the state)? They can have 10 positions, put them up for auction (people from the state get first crack, but I wouldn't be opposed to a little interstate execution). At the gunport is an envelope with a target listed inside (between the eyes, heart, left lung, right lung, base of the neck, liver, etc. You get to keep the piece of paper as proof that you were able to help remove said lowlife from the earth. Perhaps even a souvenir frame.
I think they also allow hanging in Utah, but that may be Washington or someplace else out West. The only thing more cool would be a guillotine.
If they're really "riflemen", then they'll ALL be fatal shots except the blank round.
"They're requesting a stay of execution because their argument is that the execution has taken too long. So they're... holding it up... because it's been held up... and that's why it shouldn't happen?"
That seems to be a trend these days. See also: David Lee Powell. In that case, it only took 32 years from killing a cop to execution, and our local paper made the exact same argument.
Why 4 rounds COM?
One to the head should do it, and at a 75% cost savings to the taxpayers. That's significant. Have you seen how much ammo costs these days!?
NPR said thutty thutty
One of the rifles will be an "ineffective" round, similar to a blank, which delivers the same recoil as a live round. That ensures none of the riflemen will know who delivered the fatal shot.
That doesn't make any sense. As long as all five riflemen fire simultaneously, the only way to know who fired the kill shot - assuming there is only one "kill shot" -- is to match the killing bullet to the rifle, then the rifle to the rifleman. If the rifles are all identical, handed out randomly and wiped down afterward, then there's no way to know who used which rifle.
The important question is who gets the brass ?
From what I recall of the Gilmore execution (I was a kid then), Brad is right.
They use 30-30 lever action Win 94s.
They use 30-30 lever action Win 94s.
What else would you use in the West? ;)
The report I saw described it as "quiet" and "clinical". Were the rifles suppressed, or was the news just spinning it?
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