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Commentary on the Gardner Execution

By Steve Hall

David Dow posted, "Last Night's Gruesome Execution," at Daily Beast on Friday morning, hours after the execution.I don?t know what Ronnie Lee Gardner ordered for a final meal, or if he ate at all. I?m not interested. But I?m interested that people are interested. I think it has something to do with voyeurism. The ritual of the death penalty makes us into voyeurs. If Gardner had been sentenced to life in prison rather than death, no one outside his family and fellow inmates would know his name, or care. But if you search Gardner?s name on Google, you?ll get nearly a million hits.And:Gardner reached his final hours with far less alacrity than the Utah firing squad?s most famous casualty. When Gary Gilmore was dispatched on January 17, 1977, his crime was not yet six months past...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on June 21, 2010 (boomark / email).