Target Practice

Utah Department of Corrections officials released details Tuesday on how they will carry out the execution of a convicted killer by firing squad, the state's first execution in more than 10 years and one that is renewing a debate over what critics see as an antiquated, Old West-style of justice.

Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, was given the choice of being killed by lethal injection or shot by a five-man team of executioners firing from a set of matched rifles — a rarely used method of execution that harkens back to Utah's territorial history.

"I would like the firing squad, please," Gardner told state court Judge Robin Reese after hearing his avenues for appeal appear to be exhausted. Reese agreed Friday to Gardner's request.

Gardner was convicted of the fatal shooting death of Utah attorney Michael J. Burdell during an escape attempt and shootout at the old Metropolitan Hall of Justice in downtown Salt Lake City on April 2, 1985.

Although he was handcuffed and surrounded by prison guards, a female acquaintance slipped Gardner a loaded, long-barreled .22-caliber handgun in the basement of the building just before the shooting. He shot Burdell in the head and wounded the court bailiff before being captured on the courthouse lawn.

His execution will take place just after midnight on June 18 in a chamber built in 1998, according to corrections officials. Prosecutors, law enforcement and news media will witness his death.

Five corrections officers selected by the department to be executioners will be positioned behind a brick wall with a portal cut out.

"Five guns, four of them are loaded, one has blanks," Gehrke told Fox 13. "And the call is made. When the whole process is ready, there is a hood placed over the condemned's head."

A patch with a target will be pinned to Gardner's chest, and he will be given the chance to say his last words, as well as request a last meal prepared at the prison.