On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
James Poulos ·
Jun 15, 2010 at 12:52pm
His sentence before him, Ronnie Lee Gardner chose execution by firing squad. Yesterday, the plot thickened:
Convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was dealt two blows Monday when the Utah Supreme Court denied his appeal as well as his bid for clemency, and is now scrambling to block his execution by other means. Gardner, who has spent the past 25 years on death row for murdering an attorney at a courthouse, will more than likely be executed by a firing squad on Friday.
Yes, that's right. 25 years.
Gardner can still ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the state Supreme Court ruling and stay his execution while it does so.
Here's me (too politely?) arguing for the continued existence of capital punishment and firing squad:
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May '10
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
I don't think I've ever seen anyone so refined and deferential while suggesting that if we're going to kill someone then let's really kill him. None of that wimpy lethal injection stuff. I think we should let the victim's family pull the trigger. Meanwhile, the other guy is busy deciding that our "evolving standards of decency" determine whether or not something is Constitutional. I thought our Constitution determined Constitutionality.
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
Alas, Andrea, that slippery phrase really is a doctrine of law -- one that gets quite a bit of exposure. But even on its own terms, as I tried to suggest, the facts aren't at all clear where we're evolving. They're amenable to the interpretation my co-talking head offered, but they're also amenable to my interpretation. Execution by firing squad more decent in several ways than lethal injection: lower risk of terrible pain, less dehumanizing; you can even have a cigarette. In my view, even a court fully in thrall to evolving-standards jurisprudence would have to conclude that the status quo -- citizens of states being able to select capital punishment for those guilty of capital crimes -- is not unconstitutional.
May '10
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
I'm against the death penalty unless it's necessary to protect lives, but I agree that if the law favors it (the Constitution certainly leaves it to the states) then the law should favor it in action as well as consent. And shooting someone is certainly the cheapest, quickest and most merciful way.
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
What about the indecency of medicalizing execution? Firing squad, gallows, gas chamber, Old Sparky -- each suited to its grim purpose. Not so gurneys, intravenous lines, and physiologic monitors in a death chamber. As a physician, lifesaving apparatus being used to kill is definitely creepy; certainly nothing I want our "evolving standards of decency" to catch up to.
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
James, I second Andrea's remarks. Your insistence on tying the issue to the Constitution really exposed the other side's view of "evolving standard," etc. The 5th Amendment's language is clear that no person will be, "... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." So that if due process requirements are met, the Constitution holds that they can indeed be deprived of life. It was also illuminating that the other gentleman held up a European model as the beacon toward which we ought to sail. Can we look forward to sharia law and the like as part of our evolving standard of decency? Anyway, I thought you acquitted yourself well. Deferential, yet firm.
May '10
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
James Poulos
Execution by firing squad...you can even have a cigarette. · Jun 15 at 2:54pm
There you go. You should have said that. :-)
May '10
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
Well who wouldn't choose the firing squad? It's the coolest means of execution ever, and that includes the Duke of Clarence being drowned in a butt of Malmsey. Should I ever commit capital murder, I'd definitely do it in Utah. If you're going to go all the way, lethal injection ain't exactly the blaze of glory you'd want folks to remember.
Sadly, this item on the bucket list would involve killing a Mormon, and they seem like such nice people.
May '10
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
By what standard will we make our decisions? With respect to our laws, our ultimate appeal is to our United States Constitution. While the view toward Europe to inform our interpretation of law may be popular, I have not seen anything in the Constitution that indicates this is required. Therefore, whether this is doctrine of law or not, it is still wrong in my view. In this case, the Constitution upholds the right of the citizens to impose the death penalty, and therefore, we are justified in imposing it upon those who commit capital crime.
I would say further that the ultimate authority, the Bible, provides for capital punishment as well. Again, by what standard? As far as I can tell, the greatest law governing all of creation has informed the ultimate document governing law in the United States.
There is no need to look to ANY other authority.
May '10
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
The only way to be sure that a murder won't kill again is to kill him.
May '10
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
OH, and I loved the dig at the South, because you know, we are just all so backwards down here as opposed to the rest of the enlightened elites. Guess we are just monsters.
Why did you not point out that the other nations that have done away with it were done by the elites against the will of their populations?
Jun '10
Re: On Utah's Death Row, He Opts For The Firing Squad
There is something to be said for the Chinese way of execution. A bullet in the back of the brain and a bill to the family for the cost of the bullet.