Utah Attorney General Tweets Execution Order

Kilrah_il writes "In an all-time low for Internet use, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff used Twitter to announce to the public his approval of the execution of convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner. 'I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner's execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims,' the attorney general wrote. The AG's 7,000 followers retweeted the message further on and soon many replied concerning the awfulness of tweeting the execution of a human being. 'Mr. Shurtleff was doing nothing unusual; politicians and news organizations now routinely send out tweets to alert people to the latest developments. But as Twitter users digested endless breaking news flashes alerting them to the death of a man by firing squad in the United States, for some Mr. Shurtleff's remarks stood out from the rest.'"

Comments

For the record

[aitikin]

Firing squad is deemed inhumane in 49 out of 50 states, the exception being Oklahoma, where it is used solely as a backup, should lethal injection or electrocution fail or become unconstitutional. Utah allows firing squads only in cases where the prisoner had chose it before it became unconstitutional. Therefore, Gardner, having been on death row for 20 some odd years, had chose death by firing squad before it was deemed inhumane.

I realize this is OT, but it really struck me as odd that Utah was still doing a death by firing squad. Interestingly enough, Washington State still allows prisoners the choice of their method of execution between death by hanging and death by lethal injection.

Re:For the record

[ScentCone]

but he didn't die within seconds

"He" was long gone. Instantly, in fact. The amount of energy delivered to his chest cavity (with very carefully chosen ammunition) produces a mammoth shock wave. Complete and irreversible instant mega brain trauma, courtesy of - among other things - the fact that major arteries connect the brain to the central plumbing. Out like a light. Don't confused some left-over autonomic nerve/muscle activity (ever seen a chicken quite literally hopping around, minus its head? I have) with him being "alive" in any way that counts.

His victims, unfortunately, didn't die so quickly.

Re:"Why do they hate us?"

[whathappenedtomonday]

The deterrent argument is scientifically invalid:

"There is no reliable, scientifically sound evidence that [shows that executions] can exert a deterrent effect.... These flaws and omissions in a body of scientific evidence render it unreliable as a basis for law or policy that generate life-and-death decisions. To accept it uncritically invites errors that have the most severe human costs." (Discussion of recent deterrence studies).

Re:whoopie

[jmizrahi]

Widely held to be a mistranslation by whom?

By linguists. The Hebrew word "hariga" means killing, whereas "retzach" means murder. "Retzach" is the word used in the ten commandments. You're welcome to dislike the Bible, but this particular complaint is unfounded.

Re:whoopie

[drkim]

Yeah, if you actually read the bible, there are tons of prohibited activities that get you the death penalty (death by stoning). Some of these:

If a married person has sex with someone else's husband or wife...

If a married couple has intercourse during the woman's period...

Being a fortune teller...

Working on Saturday...

...so if you want to trot out the bible to defend your position, you better get ready for lots of capital punishment!