Executioner: Death by firing squad is '100 percent justice'

**ms1600** · 06-09-10, 03:59 PM

Executioner: Death by firing squad is '100 percent justice'
Executioner: Death by firing squad is '100 percent justice' - CNN.com

Salt Lake City, Utah (CNN) -- The executioner says he was eager to join the firing squad.

Not because he was familiar with the 1996 case, or felt the need to deliver justice for a raped and murdered little girl.

It wasn't even because his high school classmate was raped and killed just before graduation.

So why did he do it? Why choose to join four other men in executing a convicted murderer?

"How often does this come along?" he says, "... 100 percent justice."

It's been more than 14 years since guns were last fired in Utah's execution chamber. But later this month, they may sound again, reviving a debate about the death penalty and the methods used to carry it out.

The one-time executioner met a CNN reporter in a Salt Lake City restaurant Tuesday to talk about his former role as Utah prepares to put Ronnie Lee Gardner before a firing squad June 18.

"There's just some people," he says, "we need to kick off the planet."

The officer remembers feeling a sense of responsibility that day, as he awaited the countdown to fire at Taylor, strapped into a chair 17 feet away with a target pinned to his chest.

He remembers telling himself, "Don't (expletive) this up."

"The death penalty," the officer says, "is nothing more than sending a defective product back to the manufacturer. Let him fix it."

This is just part of the whole article on CNN. I wholeheartedly agree w/ the officer's statements. And of course in the comments section there are all of the whiners about innocent people being executed (it is CNN).
ms1600

**Bob Loblaw** · 06-09-10, 04:01 PM

I just read this....great article (even for those who are against the death penalty). I wonder what caliber/firearms they use...

**keith720** · 06-09-10, 04:26 PM

The biggest injustice of the death sentence is that it takes so long to carry out.

**MacLean** · 06-09-10, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by Bob Loblaw

I just read this....great article (even for those who are against the death penalty). I wonder what caliber/firearms they use...

They have been alternately described as Winchester 1894's and .30 caliber rifles.

Given the description of Winchester Silvertips, I am guessing they are 30-30s.