Attorneys file motion to stop Utah firing squad execution scheduled for June pending appeal

Attorneys file to stop Utah firing squad execution

SALT LAKE CITY — Attorneys for a Utah inmate scheduled to be killed by firing squad have asked a judge to put the execution on hold.

Third District Judge Robin Reese signed the warrant last week ordering Ronnie Lee Gardner’s execution to take place June 18.

Gardner’s attorneys filed a motion late Tuesday to stay the execution while they appeal to the Utah Supreme Court. It’s unclear when Reese might rule.

The 49-year-old Gardner was sentenced to death in 1985 for killing attorney Michael Burdell during a failed escape attempt at a Salt Lake City courthouse.

Prosecutors sought the execution warrant in March after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Gardner’s case.

Utah convicts sentenced to death before 2004 are allowed to choose lethal injection or a firing squad, and Gardner chose the latter.