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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Attorneys for a condemned Utah inmate set to be executed by firing squad next month say the state parole board should commute his sentence because his crime doesn't compare to those of six other men previously put to death by the state.
The argument is contained in a petition for a commutation hearing filed Tuesday on behalf of Ronnie Lee Gardner. A portion of the petition was made public Wednesday by the five-member Board of Pardons and Parole.
Gardner wants the board to commute his sentence from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The 49-year-old is scheduled to die on June 18. He was convicted of one count of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1985 for the fatal shooting of attorney Michael Burdell during a failed escape attempt at the old Salt Lake City courthouse.
Gardner's attorneys argue the death penalty should be used only for crimes that are extreme, unusually serious or shocking.
He is seeking a stay of execution pending an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court.
In the petition to the board, Gardner's attorneys argue the death penalty -- characterized by Utah's Supreme Court as a "unique and irretrievable" punishment -- should be used only for crimes that are extreme, unusually serious or shocking.
Utah has executed six men since the death penalty was reinstated, some of whom were convicted of as many as five counts of capital murder. Many of the deaths occurred during the commission of other crimes including robbery, kidnapping and sexual assault.
Collectively, the victims of Gary Gilmore, Arthur Bishop, Pierre Dale Selby, William Andrews, Joseph Parsons and John Albert Taylor included six children under the age of 13 and six adults.
"A review of the facts of Mr. Gardner's case and of their cases starkly demonstrates that he not is their peer," attorneys Andrew Parnes and Megan Moriarty wrote.
State law does not require the board to hold a hearing, board spokesman Jim Hatch said.
"We can just summarily dismiss the petition," Hatch said.
A decision won't come until after the board gets a response from the Utah attorney general's office, he said. The office has seven days to respond once it receives Gardner's petition.
Assistant Utah Attorney General Tom Brunker has said the state will oppose a hearing.
If the board granted a hearing, a decision would be expected within the timeframe of the execution date, Hatch said.
"We would try and avoid trying to push that date off," he said.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
