Ronnie Lee Gardner Executed

UTAH (GaeaTimes.com)- Convicted Utah prisoner Ronnie Lee Gardner has been put to death after the Supreme court rejected an appeal to stay his execution. The case had been drawing plenty of media attention ever since the verdict was given. The convict got death sentence and the method of execution by firing squad had created howls of protest across the state. The NGO and Catholic groups argue that the method is not human and it should be done away with. The Supreme Court turned down the plea of the attorneys of the convict earlier and as a result he was executed by firing squad early Friday morning. Interestingly, the method was chosen by him and he refused the other method of lethal injection. The 49 year old convicted prisoner was the first person to be executed by the firing squad in 14 years in United States.

Ronnie Lee Gardner was convicted for committing two murders. He shot an attorney named Michael Burdell in courthouse while trying to evade the place. He was facing the trial there for shooting bartender named Melvyn Otterstrom. The convict did not show any extreme reaction or grief and remorse after knowing his fate. His lawyers spoke to the media and said that the court should have taken into consideration his unstable upbringing before delivering the verdict.

The attorneys said that as a child Ronnie Lee Gardner had to go through many traumas including sexual abuse and drugs which definitely affected his psyche. A life sentence would have been a more human punishment for him, his lawyers had emphasized earlier.