Utah is one of just five states that still allows the execution of criminals by firing squad — and if its last such killing in 2010 is any indication, Tyler Robinson could end up with a little paper white target over his heart and shot by five law-enforcement volunteers with rifles.
Unbeknownst to the executioners, one would fire a dummy bullet so they wouldn’t know exactly who killed Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin.
Utah is one of five states with the unusual execution method on its books, which it most recently used 15 years ago on convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner.
The Beehive State is also one of only two states to put a convict to death by firing squad since the end of the nationwide moratorium in 1977. The other, South Carolina, executed convicted double murderer Brad Sigmon by the method in March.
However, the legal process now facing Robinson, 22, has some way to go before that point, as Utah does not regularly sentence prisoners to death — and those who are may spend decades on death row.
In August, Ralph Leroy Menzies was spared execution by firing squad by the state’s Supreme Court after his defense attorneys argued he had dementia.
Menzies, 67, was set to be executed on Sept. 5 for the 1986 abduction and killing of Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker.
When he was first sentenced to death, Menzies requested a firing squad, but last year, his lawyers launched a new push to free their client, arguing that his 37 years on death row have seen him reduced to using a wheelchair, dependent on oxygen and unable to say why he is being executed.
In 2004, lawmakers in Utah stopped offering inmates the choice of firing squad, saying they attracted intense media interest and took attention away from victims.
But in 2015, then-Utah Gov. Gary Herbert gave his approval to a law bringing back firing squads as a backup if costly lethal injection drugs aren’t available.
Unlike with lethal injection, the organs can be used from inmates killed by a firing squad.
Whether Robinson’s case results in the death penalty is far from clear.
“It’s not a traditional death penalty case where there’s multiple deaths, there’s torture and cruelty, or the victim is particularly vulnerable and under the age of 14, but there are circumstances in which it would fit,” Utah criminal defense attorney Clayton Simms told Fox 13.
“The aggravating factor that is most closely aligned is the death of a public official, if he’s considered a public figure. If you kill someone in front of 3,000 live witnesses, if you kill someone knowing that it’s going to have an impact beyond the state of Utah, that could be particularly cruel,” Simms said.
Gardner’s execution by firing squad was witnessed by a small group of journalists and officials.
He was seated in a chair set up in front of a wooden panel and in between stacked sandbags to keep the bullets from ricocheting around the room.
After a black hood was slipped over his head, a small circular paper target was attached to his heart.
Shooters aim for the chest and not the head because it is a bigger target and usually allows for a faster death, said Utah Rep. Paul Ray, who sponsored the 2015 proposal.
Five anonymous volunteer executioners were lined up roughly 25 feet from the chair, four of them with real rounds in their .30-caliber Winchester rifles and one with a dummy round, so that none of the five would know whether they had carried out the fatal shot.
Gardner was offered a two-minute window to give his final words, as is normal, but said nothing.
Following a quiet countdown, a series of shots in two short bursts was heard, ABC News reported at the time.
“He clenched his fist and then let go. And then he clenched it again,” radio talk show host Doug Fabrizio told the outlet then.
“When he was shot, some of us weren’t sure if he had passed away because we could see movement. He had his fist clenched, and we could see his elbow move up and down,” Sandra Yi, then a reporter with KSLTV in Utah, added.
“He moved a little bit and, to some degree, that bothers me. To some degree, that mirrors the last few weeks of his life because he was fighting to stay alive the last few weeks, and that seemed to continue on,” Shery Worsley, a reporter with KSL News Radio in Utah, said.
Robinson allegedly shot dead 31-year-old conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Kirk on Sept. 10 during a debate at Utah Valley University.
He made his first court appearance on Tuesday and did not enter a plea. He was hit with seven charges earlier in the day, including a top rap of aggravated murder, plus felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and the commission of a violent offense in the presence of children.
