Today's Deseret News reports, "State won't oppose death by firing squad in Archuleta case." It's by Randall Jeppesen.
Utah death row inmate Michael Archuleta has chosen the firing squad to carry out his April 5 death sentence for a 1988 murder.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says the state won’t oppose it.
Archuleta was sentenced to death for the Nov. 22, 1988, murder of Southern Utah University student Gordon Ray Church, 28.
At his original conviction he chose lethal injection, but changed his mind and opted for the firing squad in 1994. Even though the state did away with the firing squad in 2004, Shurtleff says Archuleta made his choice before the law changed, so it will stand.
“The courts have held that the method of execution is the choice, if there is a choice … of the condemned person,” Shurtleff said.
Archuleta can change his mind and say he no longer wants the firing squad, but if he insists on the firing squad, Shurtleff says the state won’t oppose it and that’s how he’d be executed.
There are four other death row inmates who opted for the firing squad before the law changed.
And:
Convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last person executed in Utah by firing squad. Gardner had been on Utah's death row since October 1985 and was executed on June 18, 2010. He was the third person executed by firing squad in Utah — or anywhere else in the U.S. — since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
"Judge signs death warrant; Utahn to die April 5 by firing squad," by Roxana Orellana and Aaron Falk is from Thursday's Salt Lake Tribune.
A judge on Wednesday signed a death warrant for Michael Anthony Archuleta, for now at least setting the course for his execution by firing squad on April 5.
The signing by 4th District Judge Donald Eyre, however, is the third time a judge has set an execution date for Archuleta, 49, who has been on Utah’s death row since being convicted in December 1989.
Archuleta’s family, who was at the hearing, wept as the judge assigned the date.
"For a while you kind of just go with the flow but when things like this happen, it all comes back and opens up all the wounds. It’s hard,"said Archuleta’s mother, Stella Archuleta after the hearing, adding that her son has a lot of regrets. "It doesn’t just affect him and the victim’s parents, it affects everyone who cares about him."
Archuleta’s attorney, James Slavens said his client still has appeal options. While the state appeals have all been exhausted, he has yet to begun his federal review, Slavens said.
After the hearing Assistant Attorney General Thomas Brunker appeared to echo Slavens, saying he didn’t think it was likely that Archuleta’s execution will proceed in April.
There was extensive news coverage and commentary on the Gardner firing squad execution in 2010; it begins at the link.
Comments