A convicted murderer in Utah in the United States will face a firing squad, in the state state's first execution in ten years.
Ronnie Lee Gardner, 24, (pictured) shot dead a lawyer while trying to escape from a Salt Lake City courthouse. He was convicted of murder in 1985 and was sentenced to death.
This year, and now at the age of 49, Gardner's time is up. On Friday at a state court hearing in Salt Lake City he was given the choice of death by firing squad, or by lethal injection. He chose the firing squad.
"I would like the firing squad please," Gardner told the presiding judge.
Utah is one of only two states that allowed prisoners sentenced to death to choose their method of death. The state law was rescinded in 2004 but prisoners convicted prior to that date still have the option. Oklahoma is the other state that allows death by firing squad, but only if other methods are unavailable.
The last execution of any kind in Utah was on October 15 1999 when Joseph Mitchell Parsons was put to death by lethal injection.
Only two people have faced firing squads in the United States in the past thirty four years, both of them in Utah.
Gardner is one of ten people on death row in Utah. He, along with eight others have been appealing their sentence. Gardner's latest appeal was heard last year when his lawyers claimed he was subjected to extensive sexual abuse as a child and suffered an illness that caused brain damage. The appeals court was told Gardner shot lawyer Mike Burdell only after he had been shot in the chest himself by a police officer. His lawyer told the court he was "bloody, dazed and confused at the time."
The appeals court did not agree. Gardner will face a five-man firing squad on June 18.