Capital punishment in Utah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The execution chamber in Utah State Prison. The platform to the left is used for lethal injection. The
metal chair to the right is used for execution by firing squad.
Capital punishment is legal in the U.S. state of Utah. Aggravated murder is the only crime subject to the
penalty of death under Utah law. Lethal injection is the state's method of choice, however the firing
squad is also available in certain circumstances. As of May 8, 2011, nine people are under a sentence of
death in the state.[1] Since 1850, 51 individuals have been executed in Utah. It was the first state to
resume executions after the 1967-1976 national moratorium on capital punishment.

Contents [hide]
1 History and Current Practices
2 Conviction and Sentencing Process
2.1 Definition of Aggravated Murder
3 Individuals executed in Utah
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
History and Current Practices[edit]

John D. Lee was executed by firing squad in 1877 for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre.
The Spring 1850 garroting of Patsowits, an Ute native, was the first recorded execution in the provisional
State of Deseret.[2] Utah Territory was established in September 1850, and it permitted condemned
prisoners to choose between hanging and firing squad. In 1851 beheading was introduced as a third
execution option.[3] No prisoner chose this method and the option was eliminated in 1888.[4] In 1955,
Utah state lawmakers voted to introduce the electric chair, however the state never used electrocution
due to failure to provide appropriation.[5] Forty-four executions occurred in the State of Utah and Utah
Territory before the national moratorium in 1967;[6] six were by hanging and 38 were by firing squad.[7]
The last pre-moratorium execution in Utah took place on March 30, 1960.

A rally at the Utah State Capitol protests the execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner.
In 1967 when the moratorium went into effect, Utah was the only remaining state to allow death row
inmates to choose between firing squad and hanging.[8][5] Utah attempted to reintroduce death
penalty statutes during the moratorium but they were struck down by the 1972 United States Supreme
Court decision in the case Furman v. Georgia.[9] The state formally reinstated capital punishment on
January 7, 1973[10] and the new death penalty statutes were approved by the United States Supreme
Court with the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. The reinstatement allowed Utah to move
forward with the death sentences of Dale Selby Pierre and William Andrews for crimes committed in
1974 prior to the reinstatement of capital punishment. (They were later executed in 1987 and 1992,
respectively.) On January 17, 1977, Utah became the first state to execute a prisoner after the
moratorium ended: Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad,[11] having selected that method over
hanging. In 1978 twenty-one-year-old Barton Kay Kirkham became the last prisoner to be hanged by the
state of Utah.[12] Lethal injection was introduced in 1980[13] and in February of that year the Utah
State Legislature replaced the option of hanging with the option of lethal injection.[14]

The first bill proposing to eliminate the firing squad option was introduced in the Utah House of
Representatives in January 1996.[15] In 2004, the legislature passed HB180, which removed the right of
the condemned to choose the method of execution and left lethal injection as the only remaining option
in the state.[16][17] The abolition of the firing squad was not retroactive; three inmates on death row at
Utah State Prison who chose this method of execution before the end of February 2004 will be executed
by firing squad under a grandfather clause. Utah's most recent execution, that of 49-year-old Ronnie Lee
Gardner on June 18, 2010, was the state's third execution by firing squad since the capital punishment
moratorium was lifted, and the country's first sanctioned shooting in 14 years.[16] Legislation passed by
the Utah Legislature in February 2015 requires use of a firing squad if the state is unable to obtain the
necessary lethal injection drugs within 30 days of a scheduled execution.[18] Utah is the only state
besides Nevada to have ever used the firing squad, although executions of this type are authorized in
Oklahoma for prisoners who successfully challenge the constitutionality of lethal injection and
electrocution.

Executions in Utah are currently performed at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah.[19] Because the
ethics standards of the American Medical Association forbid physician involvement in executions, other
healthcare professionals including paramedics and nurses perform executions in Utah.[20] Paramedics
and nurses, however, are also forbidden from participation in executions by their own professional
organizations' ethics codes.[21][22][23] The prison protects the anonymity of professionals involved in
executions, making it impossible for professional organizations to impose sanctions.[24]

Conviction and Sentencing Process[edit]

Convicts who were under 18 at the time of commission of the crime[25] and convicts who are mentally
retarded[26] are protected from the death penalty in Utah, as they are in all states, under federal law.
Defendants in capital cases in the state of Utah may choose either a jury trial or a bench trial in which
the judge alone decides the verdict and sentence. John Albert Taylor is the only Utah defendant to waive
his jury right. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1989 by 2nd District Court Judge David Roth
in Weber County. Clemency rests with the State of Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, of which the
Governor of Utah is a member, making Utah one of a handful states where the Governor does not have
the sole power to grant clemency.[27] As of 2008 no commutation of the death sentence has been given
in Utah.[27]

Definition of Aggravated Murder[edit]

Under Utah law, aggravated murder is the only crime subject to the penalty of death. It is defined as
follows:

The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or depraved (or involved torture).
The murder was committed incident to a hijacking
The defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death for one or more persons in addition to the victim
of the offense.
The defendant committed or attempted to commit more than one murder at the same time.
The murder was committed by means of poison or a lethal substance.
The murder was committed for pecuniary gain or pursuant to an agreement that the defendant would
receive something of value.
The defendant caused or directed another to commit murder, or the defendant procured the
commission of the offense by payment, promise of payment, or anything of pecuniary value.
The murder was committed to avoid or prevent arrest, to effect an escape, or to conceal the
commission of a crime.
The capital offense was committed to interfere with the lawful exercise of any government function or
the enforcement of the laws.

The defendant has been convicted of, or committed, a prior murder, a felony involving violence, or
other serious felony.
The capital offense was committed by a person who is incarcerated, has escaped, is on probation, is in
jail, or is under a sentence of imprisonment. The actor was under a sentence of life imprisonment or a
sentence of death at the time of the homicide.
The victim is or has been a local, state, or federal public official, or a candidate for public office, and the
homicide is based on, is caused by, or is related to that official position, act, capacity, or candidacy.
The murder was committed against a person held as a shield, as a hostage, or for ransom
The murder was committed against a witness in a criminal proceeding to prevent the witness from
appearing, or for revenge.
The homicide was committed while the actor was engaged in, or attempted to, or flight from committed
or attempted child abuse.
The defendant was involved in the desecration of a dead human body or dismembering, mutilation, or
disfiguring of the victim's body, either before or after death, in a manner demonstrating the actors
depravity of mind. The homicide was committed incident to the abuse or desecration of a dead body.
The murder was committed by means of any weapon of mass destruction.
See source

Individuals executed in Utah[edit]

#

Name Date of execution

Method of execution

Patsowits[2]

garroting

Spring 1850

Victim(s)

An emigrant settler

Governor

1
2
Antelope and Long Hair[28]
September 15, 1854
in Cedar Valley[28][29] Brigham Young

hanging Two sons of a Mormon bishop

Thomas H. Ferguson[30]
Alfred Cumming

hanging Alexander Carpenter[32]

William Cockcroft[31]

September 21, 1861

firing squad

"Unknown Man"[6]

1862

Unknown person

5
Jason R. Luce[33]
Duane Doty

October 28, 1858[31]

firing squad

January 12, 1864

firing squad

Robert Brown vacant

Samuel R. Bunton[34] James

6
Robert Sutton[35]
Durkee
7

October 10, 1866

firing squad

Frederick White[32]

Charles

Chauncy W. Millard[35] January 29, 1869

firing squad

Harlem P. Swett[33]

vacant

8
John Doyle Lee March 23, 1877 firing squad
Emery
9

Wallace Wilkerson[3]

May 16, 1879

firing squad (botched)[2]

10
Frederick Hopt (a.k.a. Fred Welcome)[36]
Franklin Turner Caleb Walton West
11

Enoch Davis[37] September 14, 1894

12

Charles H. Thiede[38]

Mountain Meadows massacre George W.

August 11, 1887

firing squad

William Baxter
firing squad

John

Enoch's wife

August 7, 1896 hanging Thiede's wife

Heber Manning Wells

13
Pat Coughlin[39]
Constable Stagg

December 15, 1896

firing squad

Deputy Sherriff Dawes and

14

Peter Mortensen[40]

November 20, 1903

firing squad

James R. Hay[41]

15

Frank Rose[40] April 22, 1904 firing squad

Rose's wife

16

J. J. Morris[6]

Morris' wife[42]William Spry

17

Jules C. E. Szirmay (a.k.a. Jules Zirmay)[6]

May 22, 1912

firing squad

18

Harry Thorne[43]

firing squad

A grocery clerk

19

Thomas Riley[6]October 24, 1912

20

Frank Romeo[43]

21

Joe Hill November 19, 1915

22

Howard DeWeese[45] May 24, 1918

firing squad

His wife

23

John Borich[45] January 20, 1919

firing squad

A woman for insurance money

April 30, 1912 hanging[29]

24
Steve Maslich[6]
R. Mabey
25

September 26, 1912

firing squad

February 20, 1913

firing squad

January 20, 1922

Nick Oblizalo[6] June 9, 1922

firing squad

A school boy

A grocery clerk

firing squad

Albert Jenkins[44]

John G. Morrison and his son Arlington

firing squad

A man in Salt Lake City Charles

A man in Salt Lake City

26
George H. Gardner[46] August 31, 1923
officer

firing squad

Joseph Irvine and a police

27

firing squad

Woods' invalid wife

Omer R. Woods[47]

January 18, 1924

28
Henry C. Hett (a.k.a. George Allen)[47] February 20, 1925
Pierce George Dern
firing squad

firing squad

Police sergeant

29

Pedro Cano[48] May 19, 1925

A woman in Park City

30

Ralph W. Seyboldt[49] January 15, 1926

firing squad

Patrolman David H Crowther

31
Edward McGowan[50] February 5, 1926
and daughters)[50][51]

firing squad

Bob Blevins (and raped his wife

32
Delbert Green[52]
July 10, 1936 firing squad
Green, mother-in-law/aunt, and wife Henry H. Blood
33

John W. Deering[53]

October 31, 1938

firing squad

Oliver R. Meredith Jr.

firing squad

Harold A. Thorne

34
Donald Lawton Condit[54]
B. Maw

July 30, 1942

35

February 5, 1943

Robert Walter Avery[55]

36
Austin Cox Jr.[56]
other men and two women)

June 19, 1944 firing squad

37

James Joseph Roedl[57] July 13, 1945

38

Eliseo J. Mares Jr.[58]

39

Ray Dempsey Gardner[57]

40

Don Jesse Neal[59]

firing squad

September 10, 1951

firing squad

firing squad

Herbert

Detective Hoyt L. Gates

Judge Lewis V. Trueman (also killed two

Abigail Agnes Williams

firing squad

September 29, 1951

July 1, 1955

Green's foster father/uncle James

Jack D. Stallings J. Bracken Lee

firing squad

Shirley Jean Gretzinger

Sgt. Owen T. Farley

41
42
Verne Alfred Braasch and Melvin Leroy Sullivan[60]
Manzione[61]

May 11, 1956

firing squad

Howard

43
Barton Kay Kirkham
June 7, 1958 hanging (last in Utah) David Avon Frame (also killed
Ruth Holmes Webster but was executed for murdering Frame) George Dewey Clyde
44
James W. Rodgers[62] March 30, 1960 firing squad (last in Utah before 1967)[63]
Merrifield[64]
45

Gary Gilmore January 17, 1977

Scott M. Matheson

46
Dale Selby Pierre
Ansley, and Carol Naisbitt

firing squad

August 28, 1987

Norman Bangerter

Charles

Ben Bushnell and Max David Jensen

lethal injection Stanley Walker, Michelle

47
Arthur Bishop June 10, 1988 lethal injection Alonzo Daniels, Kim Peterson, Danny Davis, Troy
Ward, and Graeme Cunningham
48
William Andrews
Carol Naisbitt

July 30, 1992

49
John Albert Taylor
Leavitt

January 27, 1996

50

lethal injection Stanley Walker, Michelle Ansley, and

Joseph Mitchell Parsons October 15, 1999

firing squad

Charla Nicole King

Michael

lethal injection Richard Lynn Ernest

51
Ronnie Lee Gardner
June 18, 2010 firing squad
Otterstrom and wounded George "Nick" Kirk

Michael Burdell (also killed Melvyn