Capital punishment in Utah

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Capital punishment is legal in the U.S. state of Utah. Since 1850, a total of at least 46 individuals have been executed in Utah. A total of 9 people are under a sentence of death in the state as of October 29, 2007. The current method of execution in Utah 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 shot on January 17, 1977[1]. Gilmore, however, was a volunteer who demand his own execution and according to some the real end of national moratorium took place in Florida in 1979 with electrocution of John Arthur Spenkelink, who resisted his execution[2].

Contents

[edit] Current development

[edit] Reintroduction of capital punishment

Utah formally reinstated capital punishment on January 7, 1973[3]. Earlier death penalty statute (as all others in country) was struck down by 1972 United States Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia[4] case. Last pre-Furman execution took place on March 30, 1960[5].

[edit] Process

The jury does decide 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 make Utah one of a handful states, where Governor has no sole power to grant clemency[6]. As of 2008 no commutation of the death sentence was given in Utah[7].

[edit] Method

Executions in Utah are currently performed at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah, where Utah's death row is by lethal injection. Firing squad was allowed at the prisoner's option before 2004[8][9].

Only two person, executed after 1977, chose shooting over in injection - Gilmore and John Albert Taylor on January 21, 1996[10].

[edit] Capital offenses

  • Aggravated murder
    • The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or depraved (or involved torture).
    • 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.

See source

[edit] List of individuals executed in Utah since 1976

A total of 6 individuals convicted of murder have been executed by the state of Utah since 1976. Utah is particularly notable in being the first state to execute a prisoner, Gary Gilmore, after the United States Supreme Court's Gregg v. Georgia decision validated the capital punishment statutes enacted in response to the 1972 Furman v. Georgia decision. Utah is also the only state to have used the firing squad. Recent changes to state law require that any future death row inmates be executed by lethal injection.[11] However any prisoner who chose a firing squad before the law change will still have this option available. Previously, the condemned had their choice between firing squad and hanging. In the Utah Territory between 1852 and 1878, prisoners also had a third choice of decapitation, but none were executed this way.[citation needed]

Executed person Date of execution Method Victims
1 Gary Gilmore 17 January 1977 firing squad Ben Bushnell and Max David Jensen.
2 Dale Pierre Selby 28 August 1987 lethal injection Stanley Walker, Michelle Ansley, and Carol Naisbitt.
3 Arthur Bishop 10 June 1988 lethal injection Danny Davis and Alonzo Daniels and three other young boys.
4 William Andrews 30 July 1992 lethal injection Stanley Walker, Michelle Ansley, and Carol Naisbitt.
5 John Albert Taylor 27 January 1996 firing squad Charla Nicole King.
6 Joseph Mitchell Parsons 15 October 1999 lethal injection Richard Ernest.

[edit] Historial

[edit] Method

Before national moratorium on death penalty (1967-1977) and introduction of lethal injection in 1980s[12], Utah allowed death row inmates to choose between firing squad and hanging, as the only state at that time[13]. A huge majority of them choose shooting[14].

For a brief period in a second half of the 19th Century Utah allowed also a third option of executions - beheading[15], but no one choose this method.

In 1955 Utah lawmakers voted do replace firing squad by electric chair, but due to failure to providing the appropriation, Utah never used electrocution[16].

[edit] Other executions of note

Over 40 executions occurred in Utah and Utah territory before 1976, most by firing squad.

Executed person Date of execution Method Victims
John Doyle Lee 1877 firing squad Mountain Meadows massacre
Wallace Wilkerson 16 May 1879 a botched firing squad[1]
Joe Hill 19 November 1915 firing squad John G. Morrison and his son Arling
Eliseo J. Mares 10 September 1951 firing squad Jack D. Stallings
Barton Kay Kirkham 7 June 1958 hanging (last person hanged in Utah)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions.php
  2. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946245,00.html
  3. ^ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/state/
  4. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furman_v._Georgia
  5. ^ http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/UTAH.htm
  6. ^ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=126&scid=13
  7. ^ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=126&scid=13
  8. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CEEDC1231F93BA25750C0A9629C8B63
  9. ^ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245
  10. ^ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/getexecdata.php
  11. ^ Dan Harrie. "Senate votes to end firing squads in Utah; Firing-squad executions are ending in Utah", Salt Lake Tribune, 2004-02-20. 
  12. ^ http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/c/CAPITOLPUN.html
  13. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807318,00.html
  14. ^ http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/UTAH.htm
  15. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/07/21/beheading.background/index.html
  16. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807318,00.html

[edit] External links


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Capital punishment in the United States
In depth
Lists of those executed