Good morning...The long executioner's holiday ends

[Okla-homey]

Jan 17, 1977: Gary Gilmore executed by firing squad

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Gary Gilmore

Precisely thirty years ago, Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer, was executed by firing squad in the Utah state prison in Salt Lake City. His was first execution to have been carried out in the United States for almost 10 years.

Two aspects of this story make it exceptional. Firstly, the death penalty had been controversially reinstated in the United States in 1976 and Gilmore was the first prisoner to be executed under the new law.

Secondly, Gilmore fought the justice system to ensure he would be executed quickly. Gilmore had already spent 18 of his last 21 years in jail.

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Gilmore, age 36, was sentenced to death for the murder of a motel manager in Provo, Utah on 20 July 1976. He was also charged with killing a service station attendant in Crem, Utah, the previous day, but that case never went to trial.

An appeals court in Denver overturned a restraining order on the execution in the early hours of this morning.


"Let's do it"

-- Gary Gilmore just before being executed
In his closing words, one of the judges emphasised that Mr Gilmore should take responsibility for insisting that his own execution go ahead.


"Among other people who have rights, Mr Gilmore has his own. If an error is being made and the execution goes forward, he brought that on himself," -- Judge Lewis, 10CA.
Within an hour of the ruling Gary Gilmore was dead. The execution took place in a converted prison cannery in front of around 20 witnesses at 0806 local time.

After the legal order had been read, Gilmore's last words were: "Let's do it."

A hood was placed over his head, a target attached to his t-shirt, and the five-man firing squad took aim and shot their .30-06 rounds from behind a screen. So that none of his executioners could be sure they had fired a mortal round, one of the rifles was loaded with a blank.

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Backstop used in Utah. The condemned was strapped to it in a sitting position to avoid flinching, thus ensuring a clean kill.

Laverne Damico, Gilmore's uncle and witness at the scene, said his nephew "died like he wanted to die, with dignity. He got his wish."

Gilmore's body was taken to the University of Utah Medical Center where his organs were used for medical research. Two people received Gilmore's corneas within hours of his death - which inspired punk band the Adverts' Top 20 hit "Gary Gilmore's Eyes".

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On December 2, 2005, Kenneth Boyd, a convicted killer, became the 1000th person to be executed in the US since the death penalty was reintroduced.

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Postscript:

As many of you may know, your correspondent is a pretty conservative guy, but he does not approve of capital punishment, mostly because Mr Gilmore notwithstanding, the overwhelming majority of death row inmates are poor, black or brown -- which to me at least, begs the question, is the death penalty generally applied only to folks who can't afford the sort of defense necessary to avoid the needle?

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If that is so, I have a problem with that on the basis of our constitutional guarentee of equal protection under the law. Put another way, criminal justice is supposed to be the same for rich and poor. Until we sort out that apparent inconsistency as a people, IMHO, we should be very sparing with executions.

With regard to really nasty criminals who "don't deserve to live," (people convicted of particularly heinous crimes,) I personally believe life in prison is worse than death. There is compelling evidence that many death row inmates feel the same way. Think of how hard Gilmore worked to ensure he didn't rot in prison. OKC bomber McVey too. If you favor making these monsters miserable, which appeals to me too, then I humbly submit that "life" is worse than death.

Also significantly, "Life" punishes, while keeping the convict alive, just in case we found out years later he didn't do it -- which too often happens.

See: http://www.innocenceproject.org

The below numbers indicate use of the punishment is on the decline nationally.

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[Jerk]

With regard to your last part, I agree that perhaps the death penalty should go because too many judgements have been reversed based on DNA evidence. This, after the innocent man spent many years in prison. I wonder how many of those people we've executed.

But here's the deal.

We get rid of teh death penalty, but lets replace it with tough time. I'm talking making big rocks into small rocks. No t.v. No weight rooms. No conjugal visits. No liberal panzy bs. Bring back the chain gains.

As far as the race thing, what if...just what if whites were 10x more likely to be a victim of black crime, than blacks were to be a victim of white crime? Would people make graphs? Would they protest? Would they write hate crimes legislation? I don't care what color your skin is, if you're a murderer, your still a murderer.

[Okla-homey]

But here's the deal.

We get rid of teh death penalty, but lets replace it with tough time. I'm talking making big rocks into small rocks. No t.v. No weight rooms. No conjugal visits. No liberal panzy bs. Bring back the chain gains.


I quite agree. bring it!

[DoubleDown]

This could be good.

:pop:

[Jerk]

wait..

I just said teh same thing twice..

nevermind.

[royalfan5]

Norman Mailer's book about the Gilmore execution is quite interesting. Also, the reason that Utah uses the firing squad(just as an option now) is that it fulfills the Mormon belief of blood atonement that requires someone who spills someones blood to have their blood spilled in return.

[Sooner_Bob]

I have mixed feelings about the death penalty. There are days when I think it's justifiable and others I'm not so sure.

The biggest thing in my mind is probably the $$ it costs to house these folks for life. I honestly don't know the total for covering a life sentence, but I'm sure it ain't cheap.

On the other hand, how much is spent on appeal after appeal that could theoretically be saved if it was a life sentence as opposed to a death sentence.



I'm glad I don't have to make the final decision.

[Widescreen]

As many of you may know, your correspondent is a pretty conservative guy, but he does not approve of capital punishment, mostly because Mr Gilmore notwithstanding, the overwhelming majority of death row inmates are poor, black or brown -- which to me at least, begs the question, is the death penalty generally applied only to folks who can't afford the sort of defense necessary to avoid the needle?
Taken to the next level, you could argue that we shouldn't put people in prison if they're poor because their representation wouldn't be as good as someone who's rich. The only difference I can see is that you can't "undo" a death sentence. Just playing devil's advocate here.

[TUSooner]

For the death peanlty to nbe effective,it needs to be imposed quickly. But it can't be hasty, because innocent people have certainly been put to death, and the rich-poor imbalance is not an illusion.

IO'd set up a system where extra due process - including skilled representation, paid investigators, and much-heightened judicial scrutiny - is provided to any defendant whom the State or USA wants to kill. this would cause the prosecuting power to chose carefully the defendants it wants to kill. And, ideally, and the guaranteed "super-process" review would save time on prolonged and repeated appeals and petitions for habeas corpus, and elimmnate doubt.
Or just scratch the death penalty and go with "hard life" option.

[Jerk]

For the death peanlty to nbe effective,it needs to be imposed quickly. But it can't be hasty, because innocent people have certainly been put to death, and the rich-poor imbalance is not an illusion.

IO'd set up a system where extra due process - including skilled representation, paid investigators, and much-heightened judicial scrutiny - is provided to any defendant whom the State or USA wants to kill. this would cause the prosecuting power to chose carefully the defendants it wants to kill. And, ideally, and the guaranteed "super-process" review would save time on prolonged and repeated appeals and petitions for habeas corpus, and elimmnate doubt.
Or just scratch the death penalty and go with "hard life" option.

There has to be a way to distinguish between those who "we're caught red handed" and those whos convictions were based on circumstantional evidence, or witnesses picking out suspects from a line-up (like they do on TV cop dramas)

People who we KNOW did it- they were caught in the act, their DNA is on the victim (I don't want to be more explicit than that, use your imagination), etc...should be put to death quickly..if there is a way.

[C&CDean]

Justice in America is color blind. With the exception of the color green.

[Vaevictis]

Justice in America is color blind. With the exception of the color green.

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Sho' 'nuff, mother****a!

[C&CDean]

Exactamundo.

[Vaevictis]

Two aspects of this story make it exceptional. Firstly, the death penalty had been controversially reinstated in the United States in 1976 and Gilmore was the first prisoner to be executed under the new law.

Question: I saw some people arguing that reinstatement of punishment previously recinded would violate ex post facto -- original context was the recent legislation essentially pardoning certain activities that the executive may or may not have participated in.

Assuming that those people were correct in that case, what makes the case of the Supremes reinstating a banned death penalty different? Was it that it was a judicial branch action and not a legislative one or something? Or is that one of those things that was never really elucidated upon?

[Pricetag]

Norman Mailer's book about the Gilmore execution is quite interesting. Also, the reason that Utah uses the firing squad(just as an option now) is that it fulfills the Mormon belief of blood atonement that requires someone who spills someones blood to have their blood spilled in return.
I bet it's much, much cheaper than the electric chair or lethal injection, too.

[Beef]

I'm against the death penalty for the reasons previously stated, but I can't say for sure that my stance wouldn't change if a capital crime happened to a loved one.

[picasso]

Norman Mailer's book about the Gilmore execution is quite interesting. Also, the reason that Utah uses the firing squad(just as an option now) is that it fulfills the Mormon belief of blood atonement that requires someone who spills someones blood to have their blood spilled in return.
he doesn't try to indoctrinate does he? because Mailer is an incredible dickhead lefty. I mean whacked out wayyyy out there.

I did read his book on the young Picasso.

[royalfan5]

he doesn't try to indoctrinate does he? because Mailer is an incredible dickhead lefty. I mean whacked out wayyyy out there.

I did read his book on the young Picasso.
It's been about 10 years since I read it. I was fascinated by Capital Punishment when I was a sophomore in High School. I don't remember much about it besides thinking it was interesting, and that the description of the execution was pretty graphic.

[soonerscuba]

For the lawyer types on here, why doesn't prison suck more? I mean, I'm not going to say it is a good time, but why don't people smash rocks or provide capital goods anymore?

[C&CDean]

For the lawyer types on here, why doesn't prison suck more? I mean, I'm not going to say it is a good time, but why don't people smash rocks or provide capital goods anymore?

I'm about as far from a lawyer type as you'll ever get, but I'll give this one a shot: Because your beloved ACLU and other liberal limp-wristed pink sock wearing homos have brought mucho heat down on the prison systems about the treatment of prisoners. Being on a road crew/chain gang is too demeaning. Not having TV is cruel and unusual punishment. Not being allowed to eat soul food or kosher or whatever the **** the muslims eat is cruel and unusual punishment. I could go on. And on.

And I'm really kind of surprised you asked this question in the first place.

[1stTimeCaller]

I'm certainly no expert here but I worked as a jailer for a month in Grady County. IMO the TV situation sucks. In all of the pods 99% of the time BET was on. I'd rather listen to cats f***ing than have to listen to and watch BET all day every day.

I also think that sentences for regular, nonviolent crimes are too long. 1 year behind bars for nonviolent crime should be more than ample time for punishment. That month that I worked there was the longest and most miserable month in my life.

[Widescreen]

That was also one of your longest employment stints.

[Frozen Sooner]

I'm always surprised that Alaska is not on the capital punishment list.

I'm good with it, though, based on the same reasoning Homey uses.

[OhU1]

Few people actually believe life in prison is worse than death. Take it from the actual people serving the time. The vast majority of death row inmates fight hard to avoid their sentence.

As the great Clint Eastwood said in the movie "Unforgiven" : "Hell of a thing, killin' a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have."

For me, the DP is the only punishment fitting for a person that takes the life of another human being "in cold blood".

[Sooner_Havok]

As many of you may know, your correspondent is a pretty conservative guy, but he does not approve of capital punishment, mostly because Mr Gilmore notwithstanding, the overwhelming majority of death row inmates are poor, black or brown -- which to me at least, begs the question, is the death penalty generally applied only to folks who can't afford the sort of defense necessary to avoid the needle?


I am with you on not approving of capital punishment. The thing that gets me the most about this country is that both political sides seem to want to kill some one. Conservatives want to kill murders and liberals want to kill babies. Niether side seems to realize that both are pretty much murder, no matter what you call it. They just see them how they want to. :(