Ronnie Lee Gardner, Convicted Utah Killer, Pleads for Life; To Face Firing Squad Next Week
DRAPER, Utah (CBS/AP) Believe it - or not.
A Utah man set to be executed by firing squad told the state's parole board Thursday that he wants to live to help make life better for troubled children.
Ronnie Lee Gardner said he plans to turn over a 160-acre parcel of land in northern Utah for an organic farm and residential program for children. He said he plans to donate about $1,300 he
earned from selling prison artwork, and that in 2008 he tried to enlist Oprah Winfrey in the cause.
Gardner, 49, wants the board to reduce his sentence to life in prison. He is scheduled to be executed June 18.
He was sentenced to death in 1985 for the fatal courthouse shooting of attorney Michael Burdell during a botched escape attempt that same year. An accomplice slipped Gardner a handgun as
he headed to court on charges of fatally shooting a bartender in a separate case.
"I think I'm the perfect example of what you shouldn't do," Gardner said, testifying for about two hours before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole as part of his commutation hearing.
Gardner said he had been working quietly on his idea for the "Back to Basics" program for children for about 10 years. He said he was a changed person and wanted to help prevent kids in trouble from traveling down a path to violence and criminal activity.
The board's job is to decide whether there is any reason to grant clemency, or any reason that the death penalty is an inappropriate sentence.
The hearing continues Friday and a decision is expected Monday, five days before he is set to be executed. Utah law allowed him to choose a firing squad rather than lethal injection.
Gardner's plea for clemency is just one of several legal efforts he's employed since a state judge in April signed a warrant for his execution.
Utah's parole board has rarely held commutation hearings. Only 14 men have had ever had death sentences commuted - the last in 1962. Only two hearings have been held since 1977, according to records kept by a Weber State University criminal justice professor.
Utah has 10 men on death row. The last execution was by lethal injection in 1999. Utah last used the firing squad in 1996.
MORE ON CRIMESIDER:
June 10, 2010 - Firing Squad Execution Looms for Convicted Utah Killer Ronnie Lee Gardner
May 3, 2010 - Utah Firing Squad Execution: Details Released on Ronnie Lee Gardner's Execution