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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Two months after Utah executed a condemned killer by firing squad, a community coalition opposed to capital punishment is trying to foster a statewide conversation to end its use.
Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (UTADP) wants to see life in prison without the possibility of parole become the state's only punishment for convicted murderers.
Capital punishment costs too much, takes too long, and doesn't adequately help families of murder victims, said Ralph Dellapiana, a Salt Lake City public defender.
"We want a system that is faster, cheaper and serves the needs of victims better," said Dellapiana, who represents Utahns charged with capital crimes. "Having life without parole being the maximum sentence achieves all of those goals."
We want a system that is faster, cheaper and serves the needs of victims better. Having life without parole being the maximum sentence achieves all of those goals.
–Ralph Dellapiana
More than a dozens UTDAP members spent a day this past week in a strategy session with national death penalty abolitionists trying to map out a plan to build grassroots support for their cause.
They hope to persuade state leaders to place a moratorium on executions while an appointed commission can study the impact of the death penalty in Utah.
Dellapiana began to organize the group last year when he realized the only way he might be able to save some of his clients from execution would be to end use of the death penalty. He said a series of phone calls led to connections with a number of people in both religious and secular organizations who shared his views.
The group had been meeting quietly for months when in April, Utah officials secured an execution warrant for Ronnie Lee Gardner.
Gardner, 49, had been on death row for about 25 years for the fatal courthouse shooting of a Salt Lake City attorney in 1985.
A team of five executioners with rifles shot and killed Gardner on June 18.
It was the state's first execution in 11 years and just the third time since Utah had employed a firing squad since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the use of capital punishment in 1976.
The event thrust Utah into the international spotlight, drawing criticism on several fronts, especially the use of the firing squad.
UTDAP held a string of news conferences hoping to spur public discussion about the execution. Hundreds signed an online position statement on the group's website and attended an interfaith prayer service and a protest rally at the state Capitol on the night of Gardner's execution.
"We got a lot more support, faster, than people expected," Dellapiana said. He hopes to take advantage of the momentum.
UTADP said in a position statement that eliminating lengthy death row appeals would provide the families of victims with a swifter form of justice and would free up money for more police officers or crime prevention programs.
Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said it makes sense.
"It's a discussion going on around the country, whether the death penalty makes sense from a moral perspective, from a cost perspective and whether it meets its goals from a deterrent perspective and a victim's rights perspective," said King, who attended UTADP's planning session last week.
King said he isn't currently planning any formal proposals for the January legislative session, but agrees with UTDAP that the recent Gardner execution puts the issue in the public consciousness and provides an opportunity for discussion.
"I don't think Utah is on the forefront of getting ready to abolish the death penalty, but I think there are things we should be talking about to make people aware of some of the salient issues," he said.
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(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
