Capital punishment in Utah
413903
223795478
2008-07-05T21:11:20Z
Good Olfactory
6454287
/* External links */ add category; fix sorting
'''[[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 [[capital punishment|sentence of death]] in the state as of [[October 29]], [[2007]]. The current method of [[capital punishment|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 [[Gregg v. Georgia|capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976]], when [[Gary Gilmore]] was shot on [[January 17]], [[1977]]<ref>http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions.php</ref>. 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 [[electric chair|electrocution]] of [[John Arthur Spenkelink]], who resisted his execution<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946245,00.html</ref>.
==Current development==
===Reintroduction of capital punishment===
Utah formally reinstated capital punishment on [[January 7]], [[1973]]<ref>http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/state/</ref>. Earlier death penalty statute (as all others in country) was struck down by [[1972]] [[United States Supreme Court]] decision in ''Furman v. Georgia''<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furman_v._Georgia</ref> case. Last pre-Furman execution took place on [[March 30]], [[1960]]<ref>http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/UTAH.htm</ref>.
===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<ref>http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=126&scid=13</ref>. [[As of 2008]] no commutation of the death sentence was given in Utah<ref>http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=126&scid=13</ref>.
===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]]<ref>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CEEDC1231F93BA25750C0A9629C8B63</ref><ref>http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245</ref>.
Only two person, executed after 1977, chose shooting over in injection - Gilmore and [[John Albert Taylor]] on [[January 21]], [[1996]]<ref>http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/getexecdata.php</ref>.
==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.
[http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=144&scid=10 See source]
==List of individuals [[capital punishment|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 [[Supreme Court of the United States|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]].<ref name="votes to end firing squads">{{cite news|title=Senate votes to end firing squads in Utah; Firing-squad executions are ending in Utah | author=Dan Harrie | publisher=''[[Salt Lake Tribune]]''| date=[[2004-02-20]]}}</ref> However any prisoner who chose a firing squad before the law change will still have this option available.<!--I think this is not true. The prisoner would have to challenge the laws asserted retroactivity--> 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.{{Fact|date=June 2008}}
{|class="wikitable"
|----
!
!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 Gary Bishop|Arthur Bishop]]
|[[10 June]] [[1988]]
|lethal injection
|Danny Davis and Alonzo Daniels and three other young boys.
|----
|4
|[[Hi-Fi Murders|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.
|----
|}
==Historial==
===Method===
Before national moratorium on death penalty ([[1967]]-[[1977]]) and introduction of lethal injection in [[1980]]s<ref>http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/c/CAPITOLPUN.html</ref>, Utah allowed death row inmates to choose between firing squad and [[hanging]], as the only state at that time<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807318,00.html</ref>. A huge majority of them choose shooting<ref>http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/UTAH.htm</ref>.
For a brief period in a second half of the [[19th Century]] Utah allowed also a third option of executions - [[beheading]]<ref>http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/07/21/beheading.background/index.html</ref>, 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<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807318,00.html</ref>.
==Other executions of note==
Over 40 executions occurred in [[Utah]] and [[Utah territory]] before 1976, most by firing squad.
{|class="wikitable"
|----
!Executed person
!Date of execution
!Method
!Victims
|----
|[[John D. Lee|John Doyle Lee]]
|[[1877]]
|[[firing squad]]
|[[Mountain Meadows massacre]]
|----
|[[Wallace Wilkerson]]
|[[16 May]] [[1879]]
|a botched [[firing squad]][http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/in_another_time/012896.html]
|
|----
|[[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)
|
|----
|}
== See also ==
* [[Blood atonement]]
* [[Capital punishment in the United States]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_05028.htm Aggravated murder]. ''Utah State Legislature''. Retrieved on [[2007-11-10]].
* [http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_03022.htm Capital felony – Penalties]. ''Utah State Legislature''. Retrieved on [[2007-11-10]].
* [http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_03023.htm Capital felony – Sentencing proceeding]. ''Utah State Legislature''. Retrieved on [[2007-11-10]].
{{-}}
{{CapPun-US}}
[[Category:Capital punishment in the United States by state|Utah]]
[[Category:Utah law]]
[[Category:Lists of executed people|Utah]]
[[Category:Capital punishment in Utah| ]]