Condemned man in Utah chose firing squad

SALT LAKE CITY — Ronnie Lee Gardner picked death by firing squad because he believes it is a more humane way to die — not because it evokes drama or controversy, according to his attorney.

"It's not about the publicity," Andrew Parnes said. "He just prefers it."

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole this week denied Gardner's request to have his sentence reduced to life in prison without parole. Parnes appealed Gardner's case to both the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver and the Supreme Court late Tuesday — the same day Gardner ate what may be his last meal: steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and 7UP. Prison officials said Gardner intends to fast until the execution set for early Friday.

Gardner, 49, was sentenced to death for a 1985 capital-murder conviction stemming from the fatal courthouse shooting of attorney Michael Burdell during an escape attempt after a woman smuggled a gun to him. Gardner was at the court because he faced a murder charge in the shooting death of bartender Melvyn Otterstrom.

Barring a last-minute stay, Gardner will be the first person to die by firing squad in the United States in 14 years.

A barrage of adverse publicity over the method of execution largely prompted lawmakers to alter Utah's capital-punishment law in 2004 to make lethal injection the default method. Gardner and other inmates sentenced before then retain the choice.

Gardner is one of at least four of 10 death-row inmates in Utah who have said they want to die by firing squad.