One day later, the only traces of his death were a strong smell of bleach and four .30-caliber rifle bullet holes in the wooden panel behind the execution chair.
Ronnie Lee Gardner, who spent 25 of his 49 years on death row, yesterday became only the third American executed by firing squad since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
His countdown to death in the Utah State Prison began in March, when the US Supreme Court refused to review his case. Gardner, who once described himself as a “nasty little bugger,” was convicted in 1985 of murdering a lawyer during an escape attempt at a courthouse, where he was already facing another murder charge.
On April 23, Gardner made his choice of execution — “I would like the firing squad, please” — rather than lethal injection. He ate his final meal on Tuesday — steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and a 7UP — and fasted after that. He spent his final hours reading David Baldacci’s spy novel “Divine Justice” and watching the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy.
Just before midnight Thursday, he was dressed in a dark-blue jumpsuit with a target placed over his heart and a hood over his head.
Witnesses said Gardner made no final comment and took the 90-foot walk to the execution chamber willingly.
Five anonymous police marksmen with Winchester rifles stood about 25 feet away behind a wall cut with a gunport. Following tradition, one rifle was loaded with a blank so that none of them would know who fired a fatal shot.
Utah Department of Corrections Director Thomas Patterson said the countdown cadence went “Five, four, three . . .” with the shooters starting to fire at the count of two.
At 12:15 a.m., the four bullets tore into his chest. Gardner’s arm tensed and jerked back when he was hit. Two minutes later, he was declared dead.
Members of his family gathered outside the prison, some wearing T-shirts displaying his prisoner number, 14873.
None witnessed the execution.
“He didn’t want nobody to see him get shot,” brother Randy Gardner said.
“I don’t agree with what he done or what they done, but I’m relieved he’s free.”