Utah is on track to have in June its first execution by firing squad since 1996 now that a judge has signed a death warrant for an inmate who chose that method over lethal injection.
One of the curious aspects of the now scheduled execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, who killed a defense lawyer during a failed courtroom escape attempt when he was on trial for an alleged murder, is that choosing a death by firing squad is no longer possible in Utah.
But the law outlawing firing squads was passed in 2004 after Gardner had already chosen the manner in which he wanted to be put to death. So he was essentially grandfathered into the firing squad.