Utah judge denies motion for condemned inmate (AP)

[Yahoo! News]

AP - Lawyers for a death row inmate scheduled for execution by a firing squad on June 18 failed Wednesday to persuade a federal judge to block a commutation hearing because the process is riddled with conflict.



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In this April 23, 2010 file photo, Ronnie Lee Gardner appears before Judge Robin Reese at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, where Gardner's execution date was set. Gardner, a 49-year-old convicted killer, is set to be executed on June 18, 2010 by a team of anonymous marksmen firing with a matched set of .30-caliber rifles. He is to be the third person executed by firing squad in Utah, or anywhere else in the U.S., since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.