Utah Supreme Court denies appeal of death row inmate set for execution by firing squad

Utah Supreme Court denies man’s death row appeal

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has unanimously denied an appeal from a condemned inmate scheduled for execution by firing squad this week.

In a 57-page ruling issued just before 11 p.m. Monday, the court said it was too late for Ronnie Lee Gardner to challenge his death sentence and that he had been treated fairly throughout the course of his 25 years of appeals.

“All of the claims Mr. Gardner raises in his most recent petition for post-conviction relief are claims that he could have raised more than a decade ago,” the court’s Associated Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant wrote.

The court said it was “unpersuaded” by Gardner’s arguments that state law dictating how and when post-conviction appeals can be filed should be set aside in his case in order to avoid a violation of his constitutional rights.

Justices said multiple courts have “endeavored scrupulously” to ensure Gardner’s rights were protected.

“We are firmly convinced that he has been treated justly and fairly,” Durrant wrote.

The ruling leaves the 49-year-old convicted killer with few remaining legal options if he hopes to halt his execution Friday.

Gardner is being put to death for a 1985 capital murder conviction stemming from the fatal courthouse shooting of attorney Michael Burdell during an escape attempt. Gardner was at the court for a hearing where he faced a murder charge for the shooting death of bartender Melvyn Otterstrom.

Utah lawmakers made lethal injection the default method of execution in 2004, but inmates condemned before then can still choose the firing squad.

That’s what Gardner did in April, politely telling a judge, “I would like the firing squad, please.” Neither he nor his attorneys have said why.

Gardner also lost a bid for clemency earlier Monday from the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.

It’s not clear whether Gardner will appeal the ruling in federal court or with the U.S. Supreme Court.

An e-mail sent to Gardner’s attorney, Andrew Parnes, was not immediately returned Tuesday.

In court papers and before justices last week, Parnes had argued that Gardner had not been treated fairly because mitigating evidence about his dysfunctional family, early childhood drug use and physical and sexual abuse were not heard by the state courts.

Such evidence, which had been developed for Gardner’s federal appeal, could have persuaded a jury to impose a life sentence, not death, Parnes said. He said Gardner is the one of Utah’s 10 death row inmates not to be afforded state funds for post-conviction relief. Such monies were unavailable at the time of Gardner’s first appeal.

Based on those claims, Gardner wanted the court to either vacate his death sentence and send the case back to a state court for a new sentencing hearing or commute his sentence to life in prison without parole.

But justices agreed with state prosecutors — and upheld a state judge’s ruling — that claims that Gardner had lacked resources and was inadequately represented by attorneys during previous appeals should have been raised following rulings issued in the late 1990s.

State prosecutors had also argued there was no merit to the idea that mitigating evidence would result in a reduced sentence.