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State And Federal Info

Utah

Famous Cases

Ronnie Lee Gardner became the third person in the modern era to be executed by firing squad on June 18, 2010. It has not executed anyone since.

On July 24, 1984, a state holiday commemorating the arrival of Mormons in the Salt Lake Valley, Ronald Lafferty and his brother Dan murdered his sister-in-law Brenda and her baby daughter, delusionally believing that they had been responsible for his excommunication from the Church of Latter Day Saints. Lafferty, who was severely mentally ill, and his brothers had formed a breakaway polygamous sect they called the School of the Prophets. He said he had received a “divinely inspired” vision to commit the killings. Lafferty was sentenced to death in 1985, but a federal appeals court overturned his conviction because of his concerns over his mental competency. His retrial was delayed after a court found him incompetent to stand trial in 1992. Two years later, he was deemed competent to be retried. He was retried and convicted in April 1996 and again sentenced to death.

Lafferty died on Utah’s death row in November 2019 at the age of 78. At the time, he was Utah’s longest-serving death-row prisoner. Lafferty’s case was the subject of Jon Krakauer’s 2003 book, Under the Banner of Heaven.

Other Interesting Facts

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.

Utah is the only state to have executed inmates by firing squad in the modern era.

Arches National Park.  Photo by National Park Service.
Arches National Park. Photo by National Park Service.

Resources

  • Department of Corrections
  • Utah Prosecution Council
  • Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
  • Victims’ services

Utah Execution Totals Since 1976

News & Developments


Costs

Oct 14, 2020

Case Against Utah County for Retaliatory Firing of Lawyer Who Criticized Inadequate Funding of Death Penalty Appeal Moves Closer to Trial

A fed­er­al dis­trict court judge has issued an order mov­ing clos­er to tri­al a law­suit filed against a Utah coun­ty for the alleged retal­ia­to­ry fir­ing of a lawyer who had pub­licly crit­i­cized the coun­ty for refus­ing to ade­quate­ly fund …

Case Against Utah County for Retaliatory Firing of Lawyer Who Criticized Inadequate Funding of Death Penalty Appeal Moves Closer to Trial

Recent Legislative Activity

Jun 18, 2020

Utah Reaches Ten Years With No Executions

Utah has become the lat­est U.S. state to have gone more than a decade with­out car­ry­ing out an exe­cu­tion. The state last put a pris­on­er to death on June 18, 2010, when it exe­cut­ed Ronnie Gardner by fir­ing squad. Utah joins…

Utah Reaches Ten Years With No Executions

Representation

Mar 10, 2020

News Brief — Utah Federal Court Grants New Trial to Death-Row Prisoner Von Taylor

NEWS (3/​10/​20): A Utah fed­er­al dis­trict court has grant­ed a new tri­al to death-row prisoner 

News Brief — Utah Federal Court Grants New Trial to Death-Row Prisoner Von Taylor

Innocence

Mar 08, 2020

Death-Penalty News and Developments for the Week of March 8 — March 14, 2020

NEWS (3/​13) — North Carolina: The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission vot­ed 5 – 3 to empan­el a three-judge review com­mit­tee to deter­mine whether four men c…

Crimes Punishable by Death

Dec 23, 2019

DPIC Analysis: Death Penalty Erosion Spreads Across the Western United States in 2019

In a year of declin­ing death-penal­ty usage across the United States, nowhere was the ero­sion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment as sus­tained and pro­nounced in 2019 as it was in the west­ern United States. Continuing a wave of momen­tum from 

DPIC Analysis: Death Penalty Erosion Spreads Across the Western United States in 2019

Recent Legislative Activity

Oct 29, 2019

More Than 250 Conservative Leaders Join Call to End Death Penalty

More than 250 con­ser­v­a­tive lead­ers from across the coun­try have signed on to a state­ment express­ing their oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment as admin­is­tered across the United States and issued a ​“call [to] our fel­low con­ser­v­a­tives to reex­am­ine the d…

More Than 250 Conservative Leaders Join Call to End Death Penalty

Costs

Aug 14, 2019

High Cost of Death-Penalty Cases Continues to Vex Utah County

The high cost of meet­ing its oblig­a­tion to pro­vide con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly-man­dat­ed effec­tive rep­re­sen­ta­tion for indi­gent defen­dants in cap­i­tal cas­es con­tin­ues to gen­er­ate con­tro­ver­sy in Utah’s fourth largest coun­ty. With two cap­i­tal tri…

High Cost of Death-Penalty Cases Continues to Vex Utah County

Arbitrariness

Aug 12, 2019

Death-Penalty News and Developments for the Week of August 12 – 18, 2019: Tennessee Executes Stephen West

NEWS — August 15: Tennessee has exe­cut­ed Stephen Michael West after Governor Bill Lee denied his peti­tion for clemen­cy. West was the eleventh per­son exe­cut­ed in the United States in 2019 and the sec­ond in Tennessee.…

Death-Penalty News and Developments for the Week of August 12 – 18, 2019: Tennessee Executes Stephen West

Apr 04, 2019

Utah Supreme Court Grants Death-Row Prisoner Hearing on “Damning Revelations” of Police Misconduct

Citing ​“damn­ing rev­e­la­tions” that police and pros­e­cu­tors have used bribes and threats to secure tes­ti­mo­ny in a three-decades-old cap­i­tal case, the Utah Supreme Court has ordered a Utah County court to con­duct a hear­ing to determin…

Utah Supreme Court Grants Death-Row Prisoner Hearing on “Damning Revelations” of Police Misconduct

Mental Illness

Apr 04, 2018

Utah Prosecutor Drops Death Penalty in Prison Killing After Corrections Officials Withheld Evidence

A Utah judge has exco­ri­at­ed the Utah Department of Corrections for prac­tices he called ​“sneaky” and ​“deceit­ful” and a state pros­e­cu­tor has dropped the death penal­ty after learn­ing that state prison offi­cials had with­held near­ly 1,…

Utah Prosecutor Drops Death Penalty in Prison Killing After Corrections Officials Withheld Evidence
View More

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 7
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 43
  • Current Death Row Population: 7
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 0
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 0
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): July 1, 1973
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 1977
  • Location of Death Row: Utah State Prison, Draper
  • Location of Executions: Utah State Prison, Draper
  • Capital: Salt Lake City
  • Region: West
  • Population: 2,763,885
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 2.4
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: No
  • Method of Execution: Firing squad if lethal injection is held unconstitutional and for inmates who selected firing squad prior to May 3, 2004
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Panel appointed by the Governor has authority to grant clemency
  • Governor: Spencer Cox

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