Utah Judge OKs Killer Ronnie Lee Gardner's Request for Firing Squad

(April 23) -- A Utah killer has been granted his final wish.

Barring further legal intervention, on June 18 five police officers will line up, point rifles at convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner and fire.

Third District Judge Robin Reese signed the execution warrant today, after the 49-year-old Gardner told him, "I would like the firing squad, please."

Ronnie Lee Gardner appears in court on April 23, 2010

Francisco Kjolseth, Pool / AP

Ronnie Lee Gardner, here in court Friday, is scheduled to be executed June 18.

The Utah Legislature passed a law in 2004 that prohibits using the firing squad as a method of execution; however, Gardner and 10 other Utah death row inmates were allowed to choose between a firing squad and lethal injection because they were sentenced before the law was introduced.

Other than Utah, Oklahoma is the only state that still allows execution by firing squad, but only if its other permitted methods -- lethal injection and electrocution -- have been deemed unconstitutional.

Gardner was convicted of shooting attorney Michael Burdell to death on April 2, 1985, when Gardner attempted to escape from a Salt Lake City courthouse. He was sentenced to death in 1985, but legal proceedings have dragged on since then.

If his execution is performed as scheduled, it will be Utah's first firing squad death since 1996.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, John Albert Taylor, the last prisoner to be executed by firing squad, said he chose that method to embarrass the state. Of the 10 inmates currently on death row in Utah, four have requested the firing squad.

Voicing her objection to firing squad executions, Republican state Rep. Sheryl Allen told The Associated Press, "I fear that the proper attention will not be paid to the victims of the crime and the atrocity of the crime."

In 1996, Gardner explained to the Deseret News why he had made his request. "I guess it's my Mormon heritage," he said. "I like the firing squad. It's so much easier ... and there's no mistakes."

Gardner's defense attorney, Andrew Parnes, said he intends to appeal his client's case to the Utah Supreme Court, and also plans to file a motion with the Board of Pardons and Parole to reduce Gardner's sentence to life in prison, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.