Utah inmate faces death by firing squad (AFP)

[Yahoo! News]

AFP - A convicted murderer will face a firing squad after a federal judge rejected a last-ditch bid to halt his execution, court officials confirmed. Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, is poised to become the first inmate to be executed by firing squad in the United States since 1996, after opting for the bloody Old West-style method during a hearing in Utah in April.

Gardner, who has been on death row for 25 years for shooting dead a lawyer while trying to escape during a court hearing, lost an appeal at the Utah Supreme Court late Monday and was denied clemency by the state parole board. Lawyers for Gardner filed a motion in federal court seeking to halt the execution because the clemency hearing had been "hopelessly biased."



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Photo illustration of a rifle and bullets. A convicted murderer will face a firing squad after a federal judge rejected a last-ditch bid to halt his execution, court officials confirmed.