Death by Firing Squad.

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The state of Utah killed a man by firing squad this morning. It seems very barbaric to me - something you'd expect from a third world country. We might speak the same English language as the U.S but our cultures seem poles apart.

Aside from the general barbarism of capital punishment and its methods, the guy that was shot this morning apparently first came to the attention of the authorities as he was found walking down a street alone, wearing only a nappy, aged 2. He was sniffing glue aged 6, on heroin aged 11. Was a father by 16 and a murderer aged 23.

I would never excuse what he did, but this is a pretty awful life story . Wonder what happened to his parents and how responsible they feel?

I thought this was utterly awful.
It is not instant.
The waiting for your own death in a horribly violent way is a form of torture in my opinion.
Gardner had repented and was genuine about it. He said sorry repeatedly and wanted to make amends.

Life behind bars - fine.
Shooting/elctrocuting/lethal injection etc - not fine in my opinion.

his crimes were awful but the justice system descends to his level when they execute in my opinion.

I'm very saddened to hear that his barbaric execution has been carried out.

When I read about this a few days ago I thought he may have chosen this method of execution in order to delay it because he knew they wouldn't have the nerve to do it.

I was wrong, and possibly so was he.

All executions are disgusting.

What the FUCK. What the fuck is WRONG with their system, that we are hearing about death by firing squad executions in a developed nation in our lifetime?

Really, what the fuck. Feel sick.

actually aren't they 'the most developed nation' makes it even worse

"What the f**k is WRONG with their system, that we are hearing about death by firing squad executions in a developed nation in our lifetime?"

There's something positive about firing squad executions.

They don't let you pretend that executions are not violent acts of vengeance by a society determined that the victim should not just die but die suffering.

Totally agree with badgerspaw.

Doing in other ways that makes it somehow more palateable is even worse womehow. At least this shows it up for what it is. State approved murder.

When the US (GW used to do it I think) talk about "uncivilised" countries, I always think well you execute people mate, that's about the least civilised thing I can think of.

It often seems to be (to an outsiders eye) a country of contradictions.

can some one tell me what he did, They said he shot a laywer on the news, but sounds like he had done more stuff

2shoes - from what I read he shot a lawyer in a failed escape bid from court while being charged with another murder (I think).

Apparently he chose firing squad because he wanted to face the same kind of death as his victims he'd shot. A sort of blood for blood retribution.

toccata - he shot someone, they died and he was charged with murder. He then tried to escape from custody whilst at court and killed a laywer in the process.

Felt really disgusted reading about this. It makes me so sad to think of people actually volunteering to be part of the firing squad. It speaks volumes about the individuals and the society they live in.

Really glad the DCs did not hear the news.

Depends on how you define "developed" as to how developed you consider the USA. It is relatively new to civilisation in comparison with Europe, for example. I remember years ago some philosophical discussion where the USA was suggested to be in its childhood of civilisation in comparison with the older civilisations in Europe. Not sure where the Far East fits into that now - as they had an even older civilisation of course but some of them kind of buggered it up with communism. It was lots of years ago and I'm not remembering it well, obviously.

Not sure if it was this guy or an earlier firing squad execution but, the firing squad was chosen so that someone had to "clean up the mess later". Completely disagree with the death penalty but agree that there is, at least, something honest about the firing squad. It is what it is.

I suppose you have to ask for volunteers for a firing squad - it would be hideous to make someone take part who objected to doing it.

Isn't it still the MO for the armed forces who still exert the death sentence on court martialees? Or does it not happen any more in the western world armed forces?

EU nations don't have the death penalty even for the military.

Turkey's not in the EU but is in NATO and suspended the death penalty as a part of it's campaign to join the EU.

So for "western" I think that leaves the US, whose military do have the death sentence and they use lethal injection (but off the top of my head I can't say when they last did or how often they still do).