Ronnie Lee Gardner's Firing Squad Execution Announced On Twitter

Utah attorney general Mark Shurtleff used a decidedly modern medium to announce the old-fashioned execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, a convicted murderer who was killed by a firing squad early Friday.

Shurtleff tweeted three tweets related to the firing squad execution:

A solemn day. Barring a stay by Sup Ct, & with my final nod, Utah will use most extreme power & execute a killer. Mourn his victims. Justiceless than a minute ago via TwitBird iPhoneMark Shurtleff
MarkShurtleff

I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner's execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims.less than a minute ago via TwitBird iPhoneMark Shurtleff
MarkShurtleff

We will be streaming live my press conference as soon as I'm told Gardner is dead. Watch it at www.attorneygeneral.Utah.gov/live.htmlless than a minute ago via TwitBird iPhoneMark Shurtleff
MarkShurtleff

Do you think it was appropriate to announce the execution via Twitter? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Comments

[Jason Newstedt]

03:17 PM on 07/04/2010

So it's "tacky" and "wrong" to tweet about it, but the initial act of the murder (yes, the definition of taking the life of another is in fact murder) is OK? You're kidding, right? Evidently you and the rest of the world greatly differ on the definition of the word "justice."

[WykydRed]

04:45 PM on 06/24/2010

I wonder how many people followed those tweets. Then ran around the Internet titching about what an awful thing to do? Probably not quite as many as would have watched this execution on tv, live and in living color. And then gone all over the Internet complaining about the "barbarity" and "loss of dignity to a dying man"....

You'd get large TV audiences at first to watch people being put to sleep, but the numbers would wane quickly. It's just not gruesome enough. Bring back the electric chair or hanging or the gas chamber though and there'll be about 12 sets in the country not set to watch live executions. Block Tivos from storing them though, and that 12 will jump right in. We haven't gone beyond those old woodcuts of gathered throngs throwing rotten vegetables and fruits at condemned people with their hands tied behind their backs as they ascend the stairs. And we never will! Despite the titching and "humanitarian" speeches. But, people will continue to decry the "charade" and "disgusting" showcasing.

But I can guarantee, if any news source, magazine or rag out there had taken pictures all the way through, they would have sold out completely in two hours! We are what we are. Even when we hide it under hypocrisy. By the by, millions followed those tweets. And re-tweeted them. And c&p'd them on boards and message areas....

[Rita Foster]

03:23 PM on 06/21/2010

Gee wilikers, is this guy for real?? c'mon man...no one excuses for this condemned man but only God will take care of his final judgement meanwhile the voters will take care of you! TACKY TACKY

[DevonTexas]

11:44 AM on 06/21/2010

Tweeting the death, like the murder that started all this, diminishes the value of life.

[O K Ali]

02:38 AM on 06/21/2010

Next step is PPV. Sad part is the buy rate will surpass MMA, WWE, and porn.

[kareemachan]

08:16 PM on 06/20/2010

That's beyond tacky. I imagine Texas will want to do the same thing for their next execution.

[DevonTexas]

11:42 AM on 06/21/2010

perish the thought! but I too wouldn't be surprized!

[kelleyajones]

04:31 PM on 06/20/2010

Utah attorney general Mark Shurtleff needs to fired. Period.

[Pansey]

02:40 PM on 06/20/2010

The world is going to hell in a handbasket - Colorado is only trying to keep itself at the front of the line.

.....3.....2....1......go ahead and start posting your indignant denials.......

Have a nice day kind people. :o)

[phxazlaura]

03:13 AM on 06/22/2010

Oh, I think we Arizonans will edge Colorado out for the #1 spot for years to come. But they do have the most Tea Partiers ... so maybe they want to be in the running.

[Graczyk]

01:50 PM on 06/20/2010

This is crass.

[dbrett480]

02:51 AM on 06/20/2010

I fully support capital punishment, but something about the announcement on Twitter strikes me as a tad inappropriate.

[pinkeyelemonade]

12:19 AM on 06/20/2010

I dislike capital punishment very much. I don't mind that a portion of my taxes contribute to feeding and housing killers. What I mind is seeing these taxes pay for the state to play the Angel of Death. Hypocrisy isn't justice. What if we end up sentencing innocent people to death? Oh, right...that happened in Texas not long ago.

I don't care who it is or why they are being killed. This is a sickening display. It makes me question how far ahead of the convict's this tweeter's mental well-being could stretch.

[StonedAtheist]

04:03 PM on 06/22/2010

As far as his god will take it.

[GerryS]

12:08 AM on 06/20/2010

twitter,

why not a video?

we (the US) have more death sentences carried out yearly than the next 5 countries,

except Saudi Arabia------------

[lungfish]

12:25 PM on 06/19/2010

Ok, now where is the dip in the crime rate that this is supposed to create? How many killings and bad actions did this execution prevent? If execution is such a great deterrent, lets see the stats that show that crime is reduced by killing people? Heck, they behead and hang people publicly in Iran and Saudi Arabia and their crime rate is as high as it ever was....

[StonedAtheist]

04:02 PM on 06/22/2010

It doesn't and the numbers always bare that out.

Reality always having that liberal bias after all.

[clabberty]

08:52 PM on 06/18/2010

When given the options the criminal made the choice to die by firing squad. I must admit I wonder what was in his mind when he chose it. Was he being a smart@ss? Did he not realize they would take his choice seriously? Did he think they wouldn't go thru with it because of public pressure? We'll never know. He did get his wish though. I wonder who those people were who could pull their triggers on a strapped up, unarmed man?

[PORK RIND]

12:29 AM on 06/19/2010

Death by firing squad is actually much faster and less painful than gassing or injecting the person to death or frying the man alive. Plus, you don't go into an "out of body" experience where you are being aware for 15 minutes that you actually can't breathe or being pierced 300 times until the nervous executioner finds your vein.

Having said this, I have to admit the whole spectacle was demeaning to read and follow. It was a collective sadomasochistic orgy of the worst kind. Mark Shurtleff is a total nitwit-ter.

[StonedAtheist]

04:01 PM on 06/22/2010

"It was a collective sadomasochistic orgy of the worst kind."

A christian nation at it's finest.

[epforrester]

03:07 PM on 06/19/2010

I can't recall if the Huff Post mentioned it, or if I read it somewhere else, but cops volunteered for the job of being on the firing squad, chosen by a lottery. I find that really bothersome that people line up to do that sort of thing.

[phxazlaura]

03:15 AM on 06/22/2010

I've always wondered how they were chosen. That's even more unseemly than the whole Twitter spectacle. Thanks for posting.

[epforrester]

07:11 PM on 06/18/2010

Wow. This is a conservative's dream (wet). Guns AND a death penalty execution?!!! Oh boy! It could only be better if the guy were a homosexual atheist illegal Mexican immigrant. They should have sold tickets to this, as the "free market" would dictate some high ticket prices while stimulating the economy. Maybe the profits could be used to help BP with the pickle they're in?

[PORK RIND]

12:30 AM on 06/19/2010

Totally. I'll bet half of NRA was reading Mark Shurtleff's (ni)twits and j*rking off profusely.

[StonedAtheist]

04:00 PM on 06/22/2010

It's sad how completely true what you said is.