Brother of man executed by Utah firing squad calls it brutal [View all]
Source: Associated Press
Brother of man executed by Utah firing squad calls it brutal
By BRADY McCOMBS and LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press | March 12, 2015 | Updated: March 12, 2015 5:21pm
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Randy Gardner still struggles four years later to talk about seeing his brother's bullet-riddled body at the mortuary after he was executed.
Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last person to die by firing squad in Utah — a method state lawmakers voted this week to reinstate, illustrating frustrations across the U.S. over bungled executions and shortages of lethal-injection drugs.
Randy Gardner made it clear Wednesday he did not condone what his brother did — first killing a bartender and later shooting a lawyer to death and wounding a bailiff during a courthouse escape attempt.
But he said the firing squad is brutal.
"When you take somebody and you tie them to a chair, put a hood over their head, and you shoot them from 25 feet with four rifles pointed at their heart, that's pretty barbaric."
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/medical/article/Frustration-pushes-Utah-toward-renewed-use-of-6129555.php
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