Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Killer
Blow By Blow For Potential Death Penalty …
How Firing Squad Works
Published
President Trump has made it clear he wants Tyler Robinson executed for allegedly assassinating Charlie Kirk … and if Trump gets his way, Kirk’s alleged killer faces a torturous fate.
The case will play out in Utah, where capital punishment is still a thing … and where folks on death row are executed one of two ways … firing squad or lethal injection.
Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last death row inmate in Utah killed by firing squad … in June 2010 at Utah State Prison for a 1985 murder … and a journalist who was there to watch the execution go down is recalling what it was like.
We’re told the execution was quick … and not overly graphic. Five law enforcement volunteers took up positions behind a wall with five slots, and each aimed their rifle at a white paper target on Gardner’s chest over his heart.
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The firing squad was supposed to pull the trigger in unison on the count of two, but one was either a hair early or late. Four of the five rounds were live, and one was a dummy, so no one knows who actually fired the deadly shot(s).
Gardner was seated, strapped to a chair with a hood over his head. He had no final words.
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When he was shot, Gardner’s arms snapped up twice as far as the restraint would allow. It’s unclear if the movement was a reaction to pain or a muscle spasm.
When they removed his hood, Gardner’s head rolled back … and he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. The entire process took three minutes.
Utah also has lethal injection … firing squad is authorized if lethal injection is unavailable.
The state actually executed a death row inmate, Taberon Honie, by lethal injection just last year … the first capital punishment in Utah since Gardner’s 2010 firing squad.
Utah uses a lethal dose of pentobarbital, administered through an IV line into the inmate’s veins. The inmate is strapped to a gurney while the injection is given.
Robinson still has a long way to go before getting to this point … prosecutors have to seek the death penalty and he has to be convicted … but Trump and Utah governor Spencer Cox have made it clear they support capital punishment here.
Former Utah County Attorney David O. Leavitt tells TMZ … Jeffrey Gray, the current county attorney, is the person with the power to seek the death penalty against Robinson and will be under enormous pressure to do so.
Leavitt says Gray is a proponent of capital punishment and notes there are several requirements to seek the death penalty in Utah … namely, if the murder was carried out in a way that could have harmed lots of people and if the crime is committed in a depraved and inhumane way.
The FBI says Robinson shot Kirk with a single round from a bolt-action rifle while Kirk was speaking in front of a large crowd at the Utah Valley University campus.