Robert M. Gwilliam
Group case study on Elroy Tillman
Capital Punishment
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Capital punishment is legal in Utah. Since 1850.
A total of at least 50 individuals have been executed in Utah.
A total of 9 people are under a sentence of death in the state
as of June 20, 2010.
The current method is lethal injection.
Aggravated murder is the only crime subject to the penalty of
death under Utah law.
Utah was the first state to resume executions after capital
punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976, when
Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad on January 17,
1977. Gilmore, however, demanded his own execution, that is
after being convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
UCA 76-5-202. Aggravated murder.
Aggravated Murder (not verbatim)
The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or depraved (or involved torture).
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The murder was committed incident to a hijacking
The defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death for one or more persons in addition to the victim of the offense.
The defendant committed or attempted to commit more than one murder at the same time.
The murder was committed by means of poison or a lethal substance.
The murder was committed for pecuniary gain or pursuant to an agreement that the defendant would receive something of value.
The defendant caused or directed another to commit murder, or the defendant procured the commission of the offense by payment, promise of
payment, or anything of pecuniary value.
The murder was committed to avoid or prevent arrest, to effect an escape, or to conceal the commission of a crime.
The capital offense was committed to interfere with the lawful exercise of any government function or the enforcement of the laws.
The defendant has been convicted of, or committed, a prior murder, a felony involving violence, or other serious felony.
The capital offense was committed by a person who is incarcerated, has escaped, is on probation, is in jail, or is under a sentence of imprisonment.
The actor was under a sentence of life imprisonment or a sentence of death at the time of the homicide.
The victim is or has been a local, state, or federal public official, or a candidate for public office, and the homicide is based on, is caused by, or is
related to that official position, act, capacity, or candidacy.
The murder was committed against a person held as a shield, as a hostage, or for ransom
The murder was committed against a witness in a criminal proceeding to prevent the witness from appearing, or for revenge.
The homicide was committed while the actor was engaged in, or attempted to, or flight from committed or attempted child abuse.
The defendant was involved in the desecration of a dead human body or dismembering, mutilation, or disfiguring of the victim's body, either before
or after death, in a manner demonstrating the actor’s depravity of mind. The homicide was committed incident to the abuse or desecration of a
dead body.
The murder was committed by means of any weapon of mass destruction.
Process
• The jury decides the sentence and may give a sentence of death, life
imprisonment without parole for sentencing on or after April 27, 1992 or
life imprisonment without parole for twenty years or more.
• Clemency rests with the State of Utah Board of Pardons and Parole and
the Governor of Utah sits on the board, which makes Utah one of a
handful states where the Governor has no sole power to grant
clemency. As of 2008 no commutation of the death sentence has been
given in Utah.
• As in any other state, people who are under 18 at the time of commission
of the capital crime or mentally retarded are constitutionally precluded
from being executed.
Current Method
• Executions in Utah are currently performed at the Utah State
Prison in Draper by lethal injection.
• The firing squad was also available for three death row inmates who
chose it prior to that option's elimination in 2004.
Previous Methods
• Before a national moratorium on capital punishment (1967–1976) and the
introduction of lethal injection in 1980,Utah historically allowed death
row inmates to choose between firing squad and hanging, the only state
to do so up until that time.
• Prior to becoming a state, the Territory of Utah introduced beheading in
1851 as a third option of execution in accordance with
the Mormon concept of blood atonement at the time. No prisoner chose
this method and it fell out of practice in 1888.
• Before the establishment of Utah Territory on September 9, 1850,
the garroting of an Ute native named Patsowits in the spring of that year
was the first recorded execution in the provisional State of Deseret.
• In 1955, Utah lawmakers voted to introduce the electric chair, but due to
failure to provide appropriation, the state never used electrocution.
Garroting
USP Firing Chamber Chair
USP Execution Chamber
Federal Case Law
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1878: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Wilkerson v. Utah that the firing squad is a
legitimate method of applying the death penalty. It holds that other methods-drawing and quartering, disemboweling, beheading, public dissection, and
burning alive--do constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
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June 29, 1972: The Supreme Court rules 5-4 in Furman v. Georgia that the
imposition of the death penalty in the cases involved constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
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The ruling effectively voids 40 death penalty statutes and suspends
the death penalty.
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July 2, 1976: The Supreme Court rules 7-2 In Gregg v. Georgia that the punishment
of death does not violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments under all
circumstances as long as it is carried out in a careful and judicious manner.
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The case effectively legalizes capital punishment.
Wallace Wilkerson
(Federal Case Law out of Utah)
Wallace Wilkerson (1834 – May 16, 1879)was an American stockman who
was sentenced to death by the Territory of Utah for the murder of William
Baxter. Wilkerson professed his innocence, but chose to die by firing
squad over hanging or decapitation. The execution was botched; Wilkerson
took up to 27 minutes to die because the firing squad missed his heart.
His case, Wilkerson v. Utah, was heard by the Supreme Court of the United
States and continues to be cited in present day case law involving cruel and
unusual punishment.
Other interesting facts
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Utah was the first state to resume executions after capital punishment was reinstated in the
United States in 1976, when Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad on January 17, 1977.
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Ronnie Lee Gardner became the third person in the modern era to be executed by firing squad in
2010.
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Utah is the only state to have executed inmates by firing squad in the modern era.
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21-year-old Barton Kay Kirkham was the last prisoner to be hanged by the state of Utah, in
1958.No subsequent inmate had been executed in the state in this manner by February 1980,
when the Utah State Legislature replaced the option of hanging with lethal injection.
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Eight hours after 36-year-old murderer John Albert Taylor died by firing squad on January 26,
1996, the first bill proposing to eliminate this method of execution was introduced in the Utah
House of Representatives. In 2004, the legislature passed HB180, which removed the right of the
condemned to choose their method of execution, and left lethal injection as the only remaining
option in the state. The abolition of the firing squad is not retroactive; three inmates on death
row at Utah State Prison who chose this method of execution before the end of February 2004
will have their selections grandfathered in. Utah's latest execution, that of 49-year-old Ronnie
Lee Gardner, was the country's first sanctioned shooting in 14 years and the first execution by a
method other than lethal injection since Virginia electrocuted Paul Warner Powell on March 18,
2010.
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44 executions occurred in the State of Utah and Utah Territory before the national moratorium in
1967;six were by hanging and the rest were by firing squad.
Rank Since 1976
State/Rank
2010
Population
19. Utah
2,763,885
Cumulative
Executions per
Executions: 1976- Capita
(x10,000)
August 2, 2011
7
0.025
Executions After 1976
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Name
Date of execution
Method of execution
1
Gary Gilmore
January 17, 1977
firing squad
2
Pierre Dale Selby
August 28, 1987
lethal injection
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Arthur Bishop
June 10, 1988
lethal injection
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William Andrews
July 30, 1992
lethal injection
5
John Albert Taylor
January 27, 1996
firing squad
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Joseph Mitchell Parsons
October 15, 1999
lethal injection
7
Ronnie Lee Gardner
June 18, 2010
firing squad
Executions Before 1972
#
Name
Date of execution
Method of execution
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Patsowits
Spring 1850
garroting
1
2
Antelope and Long
Hair
September 15, 1854
hanging
3
Thomas H. Ferguson
October 28, 1858
hanging
4
William Cockcroft
September 21, 1861
firing squad
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"Unknown Man"
1862
firing squad
5
Jason R. Luce
January 12, 1864
firing squad
6
Robert Sutton
October 10, 1866
firing squad
7
Chauncy W. Millard
January 29, 1869
firing squad
Executions Before 1972 Continued
8
John Doyle Lee
March 23, 1877
firing squad
9
Wallace Wilkerson
May 16, 1879
firing squad (botched)
10
Frederick Hopt (a.k.a. Fred
Welcome)
August 11, 1887
firing squad
11
Enoch Davis
September 14, 1894
firing squad
12
Charles H. Thiede
August 7, 1896
hanging
13
Pat Coughlin
December 15, 1896
firing squad
14
Peter Mortensen
November 20, 1903
firing squad
Executions Before 1972 Continued
15
Frank Rose
April 22, 1904
firing squad
16
J. J. Morris
April 30, 1912
hanging
17
Jules C. E. Szirmay (a.k.a. Jules
Zirmay)
May 22, 1912
firing squad
18
Harry Thorne
September 26, 1912
firing squad
19
Thomas Riley
October 24, 1912
firing squad
20
Frank Romeo
February 20, 1913
firing squad
21
Joe Hill
November 19, 1915
firing squad
Executions Before 1972 Continued
22
Howard DeWeese
May 24, 1918
firing squad
23
John Borich
January 20, 1919
firing squad
24
Steve Maslich
January 20, 1922
firing squad
25
Nick Oblizalo
June 9, 1922
firing squad
26
George H. Gardner
August 31, 1923
firing squad
27
Omer R. Woods
January 18, 1924
firing squad
28
Henry C. Hett (a.k.a. George
Allen)
February 20, 1925
firing squad
Executions Before 1972 Continued
29
Pedro Cano
May 19, 1925
firing squad
30
Ralph W. Seyboldt
January 15, 1926
firing squad
31
Edward McGowan
February 5, 1926
firing squad
32
Delbert Green
July 10, 1936
firing squad
33
John W. Deering
October 31, 1938
firing squad
34
Donald Lawton Condit
July 30, 1942
firing squad
35
Robert Walter Avery
February 5, 1943
firing squad
Executions Before 1972 Continued
36
Austin Cox Jr.
June 19, 1944
firing squad
37
James Joseph Roedl
July 13, 1945
firing squad
38
Eliseo J. Mares Jr.
September 10, 1951
firing squad
39
Ray Dempsey Gardner
September 29, 1951
firing squad
40
Don Jesse Neal
July 1, 1955
firing squad
41
42
Verne Alfred
Braasch andMelvin Leroy
Sullivan
May 11, 1956
firing squad
43
Barton Kay Kirkham
June 7, 1958
hanging (last in Utah)
44
James W. Rodgers
March 30, 1960
firing squad (last in Utah
before 1967)
Credits
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
s1.reutersmedia.net
historytogo.utah.gov
libweb.slcc.edu
sks.sirs.com
www.nytimes.com
upload.wikimedia.org
en.wikipedia.org