Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Utah’s relationship with the death penalty reflects both historical ties and a growing shift in public sentiment. While some argue the death penalty is warranted in select cases, others believe there are better ways to address even the most heinous crimes.
when the time comes for execution this is where it happens ,we are now inside the execution chamber.
utah has executed eight men
we taking an indepth look at the death penalty in Utah ,its history ,it’s impact and what the future holds from the decline in death sentences across the nation to the financial imolications of capital punishment, utah find itself at a bit of a crossroads.
as we examine whether or not this practice of justice still has a place in our state.
utah has executed eight men, the most recent execution was taberon honie
who died by lethal injection just past midnight ,august 8th 2024
honie was on death row for more than 25 years for killing his ex-girlfriends mother claudia ben
ben’s daughter waited more than half of her life to see hony executed ,she was there august 8th to witness it .
but an executon has two sides -the victim and the condemned
randy gardner is the older brother of
ronnie lee gardner
who was executed by firing squad in Utah in 2010
randy argues the government shold not have the right to end a lfie
as of january 1st 2024 there are 2,26 people on death row in united states –seven in Utah.
the inmates cases spann several decades with sentencing dateranging from 1985-1996
higligthing the long duration inmates spend on death row spanning decades
the longest serving current death row is douglas stewart carter sentenced on december 27th 1985 carter’s case has been a whirlwind he was convicted of stabbing an elderly provo woman 10 times during a botchd robbery in 1985 shooting her in the back of the head at point blank range.
carter sentence was overturned because the jury was improperly instructed but was resentenced in 1992,then in 2022 the court vacated his his sentence altogether and it’s currently being appealed all the way up to the Utah supreme court .
other notable inmates include troy michael kell sentence back on august 8th 1996 for the brutal stabbing of a fellow inmate who was stabbed 67 times .
kells’s execution is set to be by firing squad.
according to the death penalty , information center
utah prosecutors have pursued fewer death penalty cases over the last 30 years
so we set out to answer the questions around the use of the death penalty,its impact and what may be in store for one of the most serious orders the government carries out.
Utah’s capital punishment legacy
utah has a complex and storied history with the death penalty marked by legal shifts notable executions and a fluctuating death row population
following the US supreme court’s 1972 ruling in ferman versus georgia whitch led to the temporary suspension of the death penalty Nationwide
utah’s death penalty statutes were revised since the reinstatement of the death penalty Utah has carried out eight executions
the first of these was the exedcution of Gary Gilmore by firing squad on january 17th 1977 and Gilmore’s cases is significant because it marked the first execution in the US after the death penalty moratorium was lifted.
former prosecutor utah attorney general markshurtleff has given the order for someone to be executed
the subsequent executions included two more by firing squad and five by lethal injection
Utah legislature passed a law back in 2004 for banning firig squad as an option for execution. that method could continue for inmates that chose it before the law change
for those after 2004 firing squad can only be used if lethal injection is deemed to be unconstitutional or the state can not secure a lethal injection dos
fastforward to the 1990s and death penalty sentences across the US have steadily declined according to the death penalty information center
new death sentences dropped from a 166 in 2002 to just 21 in 2023
Utah mirors that trend with fewer cases being pursued each year and in the 1990s Utah saw as many as six new death sentences in a single year.
Inside the death chamber
on the site of the Utah state prison in salt lake is the building where it houses the first security checkpoint and it’s in one of the buildings behind where these executions take place
we just got through a security checkpoint which is similar to what you would see at the airport . it’s very very thorough,we are now standing in a fenced off area where there are 2 security gates we’ll ho through this one on our way to the max security site.
on the site of the prison property there about 430 full-time emplyees that work here about 120 to 140 working the day shift and 80 work the night shift once we get through this gate we will head over to where the death chamber is housed .
after walking a few yards from the main security entrance gate we are now in a building just a couple yards away from the fron of the property.
we are in the front part of the analou building this is where they have what would be most commonly known as max maximum security or restrictive housing as it’s also known .
this is where inmates are placed in a more restrictive setting based on behavior
and it’s also where they house the death chamber .
so with respect to death row once an execution warrant is signed by the judge ( every case is a little bit different) but kind of standard operating procedure.
deathrow isn’t necessarily what we think of when we think of hollywood deathrow
inmates that are on death row so to speak can be in general population ,its all based on their behavior and willingness to grow and changeso most of the deathrow inmates actually are in general population
a few of them are here in the restrictive housing area -again based on their behavior.
so what would happen is if a death warrant is signed,if someone were in general population that’s when they start move them over to this restrictive housing unit to begin that process .
and they are also then here in this building leading up to the day of the execution
behind this wall is where the execution chamber is
down this hallway right here, witness do have to witness these executions these are two of the four witness rooms right here , these doors lead into those rooms
as you can see this room isn’t very large but it was enoug to hold 8 people the night hony’s execution. so this is the window right here
the curtain will draw open when the execution is ready witness got in here about 15 minutes before midnight and waited in here for about 15 minutes before the execution started watching trough this window here.
this is the observation cell the most recent one mr hony was moved here about 18 hours prior to the execution, this is where he essentially spent his final day.
hony was updated on what was happening ,this is exactly where all of that was taking place . inside the cell here is where he was, family were able to come in
essentially two at a time and have visits with him throughout that day
and just left over here is where correctional officers were observing everything that was taking place that day and then that information was taken to the command center
whren the times come for execution this is where it happens .we are now inside the execution chamber
this is the lethal injection table -again this was the method of the most recent execution for taberon honie, he was already in this , he was latched up he had the IVs in by the time the curton was drawn
this is one of the witness rooms as youcan see the people inside this room cannot see through this glass to who is on the other side in the witness room.
important to note -the executioner is not shown so the IV lines they come through one of these slots right here and the executioner is on the other side of this wall so we never see who the executioner is . this is lethal injection .
there’s a second type of execution that’s allowed here in Utah
it’s firing squad, so the gun barrels will come out of either this slot or this slot right here.
and here is the chair that the inmates sits in for firing squad.
doesn’t really matter which type of execution i guess the process is the same
who’s in the room during the actual execution
2 members of the UDC team are in the room ,they’re technically considered part of the death team.
that will be the warden who in this instance most recently was bart mortson and also the chief of the division of prison operations randall honey from the witness room both of them were in the room ,they were visible they were in their class in their uniform -again they’re considered part the policy of the death team .
after the execution warrant is read the condemned is given an opportunity to give his final words when that is done the warden gives the cue for the executioners to be in their proscess.
by the law that is what the departemet ofcorrections is assigned to do ,once the execution warrant is read and last words are given and then the order is given to start the execution.
and in honie’s case ,it was lethal injection
there was an EKG on the table to monitor his heart so chief honey was keeping a close eye on that ,he was checking it every so ofthen andhe was the one that made the determination when the EKG showed that the heart was no longer beaten.
and if it were firing squad it would be the same process , execution warrant would be read last word would be offered and then would these would just open ( slots ) up and they’re probelby would not be no worning.gunshots would just be fired at some point.
and then same type of process check to make sure that the condemned is deceased.
so ones the condemn is determined to be dead vhat happens then.
so first things first is the medical examiner comes out to do their investigation wery thorough that’s whtat took the majority of time.
in most recent one in honies’s case they made a discretionary calll to allow his family to come in and do a religious ritual,so that was taking place after the medicical examiner came in.
and also after that is done the cleanup crew comes in
the smelll is very distincly , the smell of bleach . so that takes place a thorough cleaining and then witnesses were allowed to come in and make their note of what they witnessed.
the body wasn’t in here,the body was already removed from the chamber when witnesses got a chance to come in here .
but once the medical examiner is done with their investigation what what happens then
so what happens is the body is then released to the medical examiner and it is no longer under the authority of the department of corrections.
the body would go to the medical examiner’s office, the medical examiner makes arragements with the family from that point.
now we’re on the other side of the wall of the execution, so what happens in here.whos’s in here during the execution .
so the night of the most recent one we had the IV team and the execution team made up of the medical doctors , they were all back here.
by state law we are required to keep them anonymous we’re not able to reveal their identity .
the executive director brian red was also back here that night
but this is where the IV lines run through and then in the event of a firing squad yoou see the rest here and this is where the crew carrying out that .
and in the event of a firing squad who ultimately pulls the trigger.
there’s a team of five individuals ,one would have a blank essentially and then four would not .
they are not members of the Utah departement of corrections,however they would be people who come from outside of the department.
and there’s one blank in theory because the five people don’t necessarily knwo if they had the blank or not.
one thing is important to note is there are a lot of runthrough that leading up to an execution
this is really the most solemn and consequential responsibility of any state divison.
so it’s really important that it’s handle in a professional manner and in order to do that you have to practice for all scenarios .
weeks prior to the execution, you go throug different scenarios try to think of anything possible that could come up to make sure that you run through that and are ready to go when the time comes.
for example- an employee of UDC that matches the body type of the condemned are volunteered they were put through the transport process , they were put on the table they were beltet in.and even went as far as to put the IVs in. multiple times on this individual even to the toe they had to try to find an IV line in that area.
so this guy defenitely took one for the team,he was bruised for a wute a while after but it’sreally crucial that they do those runthroughs
and on the night of taberon honie,prior to the execution they did one just hours before, just to make sure that everything was in place and then it would go off in a professional manner .
are here a checklist of if something looks like or starts to go wrong during the exectuion iteself
absolutely ! you have to really plan for any possible scenario that will come up and so .
and that’s how an execution takes place.
wheter it’s by lethal inection or firing squad basically from start to finish, however there is one final step that happens after the execution with rescept to departement of corrections.
its importan to evaluate what happened . they spent monts and so many hours planning for this and when they take a look at how it went you don’t really want to talk about an event like this in those terms
however they feel like it went ad good as it possibly could have ,still though there are things they can leant so there’s a debrief session the following day and you just get together you go through each division and what your responsibilities were and you take a look at what happened how it played out and what could potentially you could learn from moving foward
so that ‘s a really another important step just to evaluate and assess ourselves .
so important because while executions don’t happen a lot here in Utah they do still take place the most most recent one was 14 years spread apart from the previous one.
Crossroads : justice & morality
nationally just over 1,600 executions have been carried out since 1976
in public opinion has started shift away from the death penalty in favor of life without parole.
a 2019 Gallup found that 60 % of americans preferred life in prison over the death penalty.
we ask the utah people their thoughts …
” personally i think it all depends on the situation”
” my stance on capital punishment is like ,i’m like almost 50/50 on it just because i fell like a lot of people are on death row that can be wrongly convicted,but for those that are rightfully convicted i do feel like capital punishment is necessary”
legal experts prosecutors and defense attorneys have debated the ethical considerations and legal complexities surrounding the death penalty
and then there’s the appeals process in Utah inmates spend an average of 30 years on death row
“if it ‘s going to take that long then do away with it otherwise change the process, it can be changed other states do it , they still provide all the appellant rights to a convicted person and sentence to death”
-Mark Hurtleff
in Texas for example appeal is automatic and has to happen within 30 days, there is a much more expedited process to the state and US supreme court.
” it’s really just kind of sitting down and changing the process and if you’re goint to keep the death penalty Utah state legislature then fix that ,that is not working .”
–Mark Hurtleff
Utah house speaker mike shultz is on record with 2 news
but defense attorney sky lazaro feels there’s no usful legal purpose for it .
” i think there’s better ways to deal with even the most heinous of crimes”
-sky lazaro
lazaro argues people change over time.
” life without parole is its own type of death sentence , you’re just going to die in prison “
-sky lazaro
sentincing guidelines look at aggravated and mitigating factors
like was the crime a one -off or is there a history of violent decisions
“government sanctioned execution is not changing what happened,it’s not bringing anybody back”
-sky lazaro
and Lazaro feel a shift in society’s sentiment over the death penalty
” we’ve moved away from this idea that we’re just going to punish bad people because they did a bad thing into this idea that there’s a rehabilitive component to a sent”
-sky lazaro
in the end….
nationally there has been a gradual shift in public opinion against capital punishment but in Utah there is still a majority of people who support it.
including the legisture which hasn’t taken up death penalty reform since 2022.
when it failed to get out of commitee
supporters say giving prosecutors the options to file a death penalty case helps leverage the accused to reveal the location of the remains
but in the end this debate is only possible because someone has been victimized leaving families on both sides destroyed forever mind .
” it’s just scary for everybody ,everybody involved and you know i creates collateral damage”
-randy gardner
in the end the death penalty remains one of the most divisive issues facing Utah and the nation while advocates see it as a tool for justice and closure
opponents argue its cots ,financial moral and human outweigh any benefits as Utah continues to grapple with this complex the question remains.
is it time for a change or does capital punishment still serve the greater good…..