Entries tagged with “Ronnie Lee Gardner”
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Feb 06, 2024
South Carolina Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of Electrocution and Firing Squad, Considers Scope of Secrecy Law
On February 6, 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Owens v. Stirling, a case in which death-sentenced prisoners challenged the state’s electrocution and firing squad execution methods as unconstitutional. A South Carolina trial court had previously held an extensive evidentiary hearing and issued an injunction against use of those methods based on the state’s constitutional prohibition against “cruel,” “unusual,” or “corporal” punishments. For almost 90…
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Lethal Injection
,Jan 04, 2024
Utah Judge Clears the Way for Use of the Firing Squad
On December 22, 2023, Judge Coral Sanchez of Utah’s Third Circuit Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by five men on the state’s death row that challenged Utah’s two execution methods and protocols. Ralph Menzies, Troy Kell, Michael Archuleta, Douglas Carter, and Taberon Honie sought an order vacating Utah’s current execution protocols for lethal injection and firing squad and enjoining their future use. The prisoners argue that both methods constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the…
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Lethal Injection
,Nov 08, 2023
Utah Judge Hears Argument in Prisoners’ Lawsuit Against Execution Protocol
On October 26, 2023, Judge Coral Sanchez of Utah’s Third Circuit Court heard arguments in a lawsuit filed by five death-sentenced prisoners against the State in April. Ralph Menzies, Troy Kell, Michael Archuleta, Douglas Carter, and Taberon Honie seek an order vacating Utah’s current execution protocol and enjoining its use. The lawsuit argues that the State’s two-pronged protocol, with lethal injection as the default method of execution and firing squad as a backup, constitutes cruel and…
Facts & Research
Recent Legislative Activity
,Sentencing Data
,Executions Overview
,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…