Ronnie Lee Gardner Facing Execution By Firing Squad

June 18th, 2010 - 7:37 pm ICT by GD  

By Ranjan Bhaduri
gardnerUtah, June 18, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The preparations for the disputed execution of a convicted killer named Ronnie Lee Gardner have started in USA which is drawing a lot of media attention.

He will be executed by a firing squad and will take place in Utah. Only the Supreme Court of USA can stall the execution if the judges think so. If the execution takes place as it has been ordered, he will be strapped to chair and a hood will be put on his head. If it actually happens he will become the third person to be executed in Utah by the firing squads. As of now, Utah is the only state to retain execution by firing squad.

The method has been criticized severely by NGO and human rights group. Even a section of Catholic Church condemns it. However, Ronnie Lee Gardner has chosen this method for his execution and rejected the alternative method that is lethal injection.

He got convicted for a courthouse shooting incident involving lawyer Michael Burdell. He was earlier charged with murdering Melvyn Otterstrom, a bartender. The attorneys of the convicted killer made an appeal to the US Supreme Court hoping it may block the execution. The court earlier rejected a petition for stay on the execution.

The prisoner is said to have been calm even after knowing his fate and he has not shown any signs of grief or fear as such. His attorneys told the media that the execution method is inhuman and the court could have given the convict a life sentence instead of doling out such a punishment.

The lawyer argued earlier that the convict’s dysfunctional upbringing with a past involving parental neglect and early sexual abuse made him mentally unstable.

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