Tassadar! Utah to Execute Two by Firing Squad Per Condemned Inmates' Requests

SlowwHand · May 23, 2003, 18:44

These guys are bozos. Read on, and note bold.

Thu May 22, 6:21 PM ET
By C.G. WALLACE, Associated Press Writer

SALT LAKE CITY - The only state that dispatches condemned inmates by firing squad is assembling gunmen for back-to-back executions next month.

The nation's last execution by firing squad was in 1996.

Exercising their right under Utah law, serial killer Roberto Arguelles and Troy Michael Kell, a white supremacist who stabbed a fellow inmate to death, have chosen the firing squad over lethal injection and are set to die at 12:01 a.m. on June 27 and 28, respectively.

However, Kell filed an appeal last week that will probably halt his execution.

Of the 850 inmates put to death in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) reinstated capital punishment in 1976, two have died by firing squad, both in Utah: Gary Gilmore in 1977 became the first person executed in the United States after the court's ruling, and John Albert Taylor was put to death 19 years later.

Since 1977, Utah has executed four other killers, all by injection.

Anti-death penalty forces are protesting, arguing that the firing squad amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. And the prison is bracing for large crowds of protesters.

Utah's use of firing squads predates statehood in 1896 and is a remnant of the early Mormon belief that bloodshed is a required punishment for taking a life, said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which says it is neutral about the death penalty but critical of its application.

"Certainly no other state has continued its use or allowed people to choose it. It's the one thing that stands out," Dieter said. "It's part of the history, so there's a reluctance to change."

The notion that murder must be atoned for in blood has never been part of official church doctrine, and the Mormon church has not taken a formal position on execution methods, said Robert Millet, Brigham Young University religion professor.

The Utah Corrections Department is recruiting law enforcement officers for two five-person firing squads, asking the police departments in the communities where the crimes were committed to nominate volunteers.

The officers' identities will not be released, and participants will be barred from talking publicly about the experience.

A hood will be put over the condemned man's head and a target will be pinned over his heart. The executioners will fire simultaneously from gun portals (news - web sites) in a separate room at the inmate, seated in a chair about 30 feet away.

One of the five rifles will contain a blank so that no one will know who fired the fatal shots.

In 1992, Arguelles abducted and strangled Margo Bond, a janitor at a junior high school where he had been hunting for teenage victims. He also kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed two girls, ages 13 and 15, and stabbed a 16-year-old girl more than 40 times. He was sentenced to death in 1997. Arguelles has repeatedly said he wants to die.

Kell was convicted in 1996 of killing a black man, Lonnie Blackmon, at the Utah State Prison. Kell, serving time for a previous murder, stabbed Blackmon 67 times with a homemade knife in 1994. A prison videotape shows Kell shouting, "White power!" during the attack.

Utah has 11 men on death row. Besides Arguelles and Kell, two other inmates have chosen to die by firing squad.

SlowwHand · May 23, 2003, 18:45

"Since 1977, Utah has executed four other killers, all by injection."

Pretty poor record.

Traianvs · May 23, 2003, 18:53

Yeah we all know you're so proud of your very own Texas...

Spiffor · May 23, 2003, 18:53

I can't wait for inmates to ask death by quartering

Pekka · May 23, 2003, 18:55

How about death by... The Sleep Watcher!
Or death by... The Shotgun From Hell??

SlowwHand · May 23, 2003, 18:57

Drawn and quartered.

Trajan, I know you like to leave them on the prowl.

I think it odd they got a choice, and chose firing squad.

Traianvs · May 23, 2003, 18:58

Quote:

Originally posted by Pekka
How about death by... The Sleep Watcher!
Or death by... The Shotgun From Hell??

uh-uh sleep watcher you say?

Btw that shotgun from hell sounds interesting, but also a tad bit painful as the pellets can end up in painful areas

Btw apparently some people would like to reinstate torture... oh yeah baby, bring on the rack!

Pekka · May 23, 2003, 18:59

I don't know.. I might choose firing squad if I had to.
I'd want to look at their eyes and watch it coming.

Pekka · May 23, 2003, 19:01

Trajanus, if you want to know what The Sleep Watcher is, you gotta go to my thread 'Punisher Weapon Systems' in the first or second page.

Also, The Shotgun From Hell is not exactly a shotgun.
They could also choose The Sharpnel Shower. The Demoralizer doesn't kill, so it's no use here.

Oerdin · May 23, 2003, 19:01

Justice shall be done.

Oerdin · May 23, 2003, 19:03

BTW I remember the case in 1996 and I believe the fellow choice death by firing squad just so he could file a last minute appeal to claim it was cruel and unusual thus delaying Justice. Fortunately, the Supreme Court did not stay the execution and the sentence was carried out.

SlowwHand · May 23, 2003, 19:03

Err, um, Pekka.

"A hood will be put over the condemned man's head and a target will be pinned over his heart."

No lookey.

Pekka · May 23, 2003, 19:05

What? Why?

Nubclear · May 23, 2003, 21:46

I love you too slowwy

Shi Huangdi · May 23, 2003, 21:54

to justice.

Lefty Scaevola · May 23, 2003, 22:33

Shooting is to good for 'em. Too Quick. Better that they should suffer a lifetime time in prison, knowing that they will not get out.

Spiffor · May 23, 2003, 23:24

Actually, I think the death penalty is much less fearsome than lifelong imprisonement. That's why I don't believe in death penatly as an efficient deterrent to crime

DinoDoc · May 23, 2003, 23:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Spiffor
Actually, I think the death penalty is much less fearsome than lifelong imprisonement.

The prisoners don't think so.

Spiffor · May 23, 2003, 23:36

You don't know more than me DD

Lincoln · May 23, 2003, 23:37

I knew Roberto Arguelles when I lived in Utah. I first met him in the state juvenile reform school and then again when I worked in the state prison. Too bad that he ended up like this. He was a nice kid at one time but he had a sexual addiction for both boys and girls. Each time he was released on parole or whatever he would go to the schools and find some innocent kid to molest. His mother was a very nice woman but she could not help him and neither could I. We used to correspond by mail but I have not heard from him in several years. Too bad he ended up like this. May God have mercy on his soul and on the innocent kids that he abused.

Bereta_Eder · May 23, 2003, 23:38

where's the shooting? in mogadisu?

TCO · May 24, 2003, 00:03

Put a bullet in them. I hope the Belgians do the same with that child molester dude. What method do they use? Lethal injection? Hanging?

Bereta_Eder · May 24, 2003, 00:06

I think they'll just force him to live in Atlanta.

Spiffor · May 24, 2003, 00:08

Quote:

Originally posted by GP
Put a bullet in them. I hope the Belgians do the same with that child molester dude. What method do they use? Lethal injection? Hanging?

AFAIK, the death penalty is forbidden in the EU. A country with death penalty is considered not to respect human rights enough to fit in the Union.

Imran Siddiqui · May 24, 2003, 00:18

Quote:

I think they'll just force him to live in Atlanta.

Why does he get a reward?

Bereta_Eder · May 24, 2003, 00:19

That's the most inhuman penalty we can think of.

Imran Siddiqui · May 24, 2003, 00:24

Yes, because you are Greeks and thus of limited intelligence.

Bereta_Eder · May 24, 2003, 00:26

wow... amazing how these two things simply don't click together!!!

Well we also thought about New Jersey but that would actually violate every chapter of the UN chart on human rights

Colon™ · May 24, 2003, 00:29

Quote:

Originally posted by paiktis22
That's the most inhuman penalty we can think of.

True, all those huge cockroaches are a bit disgusting but aside of that Atlanta didn't look all that bad to me.

Imran Siddiqui · May 24, 2003, 00:30

Yes, because no where does it say that someone guilty of a crime should be sent to a place where it would be a reward to be sent to

.

(except if it was Camden)