Gardner had been on Utah's death row for 25 years manipulating the system and trying to escape his fate. He was sentenced to die in 1985 for a botched escape attempt on April 2, 1985, during which Gardner shot and killed Michael Burdell, a defense attorney, and injured court bailiff George "Nick" Kirk. Gardner, in court on charges stemming from the 1984 robbery and shooting death of Melvyn John Otterstrom, used a gun that had been smuggled into the old Salt Lake County Courthouse by his girlfriend.
Melvyn John Otterstrom's and Michael Burdell's family are still suffering because of Gardner's cruelty and viciousness, and George Kirk says he has not been without pain from his wounds in the 25 years since Gardner shot him.
Members of Gardner's family — some of whom left the courtroom in tears at the last hearing to get his sentence changed — are victims as well, and I'm sorry for them, but my greatest sympathy goes out to his victims.
Gardner had no redeeming features. There is no reason he should be alive.
I believe the system worked. Too slowly, but it worked.
I agree with you Mat
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteYeah. That prison is right around the corner from us. I left my window up to see if I could hear the shots, but I didn't hear anything. The only thing wrong with this is that it took 25 years to actually execute him. Traffic was really bad here last night because of all of the media coming in town to cover it, that's my biggest gripe with this whole thing.
ReplyDeleteyeah...I understand and agree with you. I read an article from some newspaper reporter that said shooting him was cruel. BS. What about his victims. They are guilty of nothing and are being punished for the rest of thier lives. Hopefully, I will never be on death row, but if I am and have the opportunity, I would choose a firing squad as the best way to go. Too good for him, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteSomeone did something incredibly stupid to me the other day (ignorance combined with laziness combined with every cliche you want to think of)...and my immediate thought was, "She deserves to be strung up and hung from a lamp post like Mussolini." I mean...why do these people exist eating up value resources?
ReplyDeleteI had George Jones playing while I typed all my comments. Love me some George. Who'd uh thunk it, but then...look at my parents: Mammy and Pappy. :)
~~ Baby Dare. Can babies get arthritis?
Geez, update your blog already.
ReplyDelete