The Ethics of Anonimity

Just a brief break in my 'catch up' blogs to discuss a recent execution - Last night, or more accurately in the wee hours of this morning Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed in Utah by firing squad.
He is the third person to be executed by firing squad since the reinstatment of the death penalty in 1976. The other two, Gery Gilmore in 1977(who's famous last words were "Lets do it") and John Taylor in 1989, were also executed in Utah. Gardner chose the method of execution before it was banned in Utah and replaced in 2004 with the lethal injection, the law however was not retroactive. He is the first person to be executed in Utah for more than a decade. There are nine men still on death row in Utah, and four of them have also ellected to be executed by firing squad when the fateful moment arrives. Eight of the nine men were sentenced to death before 2004 (Floyd Eugene Maestas was sentenced in 2005, the most recent death sentence before then was handed down in 1994). No one can explain with any certainty the reason behind the preference - other than in the case of John Taylor who openly faced the firing squad in order to embarrass the State, and in that he was quite successful. Its a wonder then, why the selection has been allowed to continue, and how it is the world will percieve this archane method today - if indeed it notices at all.


Last night Gardner was strapped to a black chair, a hood was placed over his head, and a target pinned to his chest over his heart. Behind reflective glass sat media representatives and witnesses for the victim and defendant. As they watched a man die, Gardner saw neither their pain nor glee. Gardner's final words when asked if he had any were: "I do not, no." Five certified police officers who volunteered to be executioners stood behind a wall cut with a gunport. Each officer was armed with matching .30 caliber winchester rifles, one of which was loaded with a blank. This is so that each executioner can hold on to the belief that they may not have been the one to shoot the deadly bullet.
And here lies my question for the day - if you dont want to reveal your identity, and dont want to know whether you were the one to kill the bound and blindfolded man - why volunteer to be an executioner?

If the death penalty is justifiable - if executing a human being is the right thing to do - why hide behind anonimity? If no one is willing to stand openly in front of the inmate and witnesses and pull the trigger, or flick the switch, knowing full well what the consequence of their action will be - perhaps no one should be doing it at all.

The Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, "tweeted" his approval of the executioner - "I just gave the go ahead to corrections director to proceed with Gardners execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims."
Why didn't Mr Shurtleff pick up the gun, it seems to me he might as well have been an executioner having given the order to go ahead with it. I pray that when his time comes God grants him the mercy he denied Gardner.