The Utah Execution by Firing Squad

Message from Kurt Hofmann:

I can't figure out why you haven't mentioned the execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, by firing squad. Seems like a natural topic for you.

I see some argue that it's a better way to go than lethal injection.

Here's a video (not of the actual execution, of course).

There are worse ways to go, and the method was his choice.

There's no real reason for my not writing about this; it certainly is right up my alley. In that video they say the prisoner chose a firing squad because he had lived by the gun and wanted to die by the gun. That sounds like macho jail-house talk to me. I would guess the reason was to go out with a bang, to make the biggest sensation out of his execution he could.

The reason they have that method in Utah is related to the Mormon belief in Blood Atonement. Now, that's some pretty archaic eye-for-an-eye nonsense, wouldn't you say? In his wonderful book about Gary Gilmore, the famous author Norman Mailer went into great detail about how this philosophy plays a part in the thinking of the most hardened and non-religious criminals. It's fascinating stuff.

But my impression of Ronnie Lee was that he was nothing more than a poor aging murderer grasping for the last bit of drama and excitement left to him. I don't know if he realized it, but his story was big news in Europe and probably in the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the thrust of those news stories is always, "what's wrong with the United States that they still do stuff like this?"

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Three Bali Bombers Executed

Indonesia has executed the three terrorists convicted of the 2002 bombing of a Bali night club which killed 202 people. The N.Y. Times reports that in spite of many delays the execution by firing squad was allowed to proceed.

Tied side by side to wooden posts, the bombers — Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron — were simultaneously shot in a field on a small prison island off western Java, officials said.

The executions brought an end to years of uncertainty about the fate of the three men, who were convicted in 2003 but whose deaths was put off many times because of government fears about a political or terrorist backlash.

One thing I couldn't help noticing is that in Indonesia a process that they describe as slow with many delays takes six years while ours takes 20. I'm not sure what that means.

Another idea that comes to me is that at first what seems to be a cold calculated crime, planned and executed by sound minds, turns into something quite different with the defendant's statement.

In a letter written several weeks ago and posted on a sympathetic Islamist Web site, Mukhlas said he felt no remorse for the killings. “I am neither afraid of prison nor the death penalty,” he wrote. “I am not content with lenience or freedom. And I was not mournful when accused of killing people in the path of God, and at this moment I’d proclaim: ‘In the name of God, I have won.’ ”

To me a guy like this is not of sound mind at all. He's dangerous for sure, but in my opinion does not merit execution. What do you think? How do these guys compare to the mafia hit men on the scale of culpability? How do they compare to the violent damaged killers?

What's your opinion?