Commemorative Coins for Utah’s Firing Squad

Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, is scheduled to die tonight at midnight in Utah in front of a firing squad. With Mr. Gardner’s face hooded and strapped to a chair, five law enforcement officers will aim .30-caliber rifle and shoot at a target pinned to his heart him from 25 feet away. One of the five riffles will be armed with an “ineffective” round so that no one would know who delivered the fatal shot. Two alternate executioners will be standing by in case one of the original gunmen loses his nerves.

To commemorate this event, Utah Correctional Department has a created special decorative coin to award staff members participating in the execution. According to Corrections spokesman, Steve Gehrke, “the staff preferred something a little more modern”’ than the pins that have been traditionally awarded to those who have participated in past executions.

One executioner told CNN that he was excited to join the five-person execution crew. He stated: 

“How often does this come along?”

Utah is the only state in the U.S. that has death by firing squad. Oklahoma allows it only if lethal injection and electrocution are ruled unconstitutional. However, firing squads are used in Afghanistan, Belarus, Ethiopia, Indonesia, North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, and some provinces in China.

Mr. Gardner has been on death row for almost 25 years. During last week’s Board of Pardons and Parole hearing, the family of Michael Burdell, the attorney who was murdered, requested the state to spare Mr. Gardner’s life. Donna Nu, partner of Mr. Burdell, stated Mr. Burdell “certainly wouldn’t want to be the reason that Ronnie Lee was killed.” However, their pleas were to no avail.