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SALT LAKE CITY -- Ronnie Lee Gardner is scheduled to die early Friday morning by firing squad at the Utah State Prison, but his attorney is working on appeals to try to win a stay of execution.
Because there has been so much litigation in this case, and it's highly unlikely that new issues are going to emerge at this 11th hour, I don't anticipate any sudden changes.
–Daniel Medwed, UofU law professor
Wednesday, Gardner's attorney filed a motion for a stay of execution. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will rule either Wednesday night or Thursday, at the latest.
"I'm not surprised at all to hear about the flurry of litigation that's occurring right now," says Daniel Medwed, law professor at the University of Utah.
Medwed has followed Gardner's case closely. Tuesday night, the highest court in Utah denied a motion to stay the execution. Now it's on to the federal courts, starting with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals based in Denver.
Related:
Experts argue firing squad is a humane execution
A condemned Utah inmate's decision to die in a barrage of bullets fired by five unnamed marksmen has been vilified by many as an archaic form of Old West-style justice. But some experts argue it is more humane than all other execution methods.The issue at hand is whether a prosecutor violated Gardner's right to a fair commutation hearing. Medwed says it's just one more appeal in a string of 25 years of litigation.
"Because there has been so much litigation in this case, and it's highly unlikely that new issues are going to emerge at this eleventh hour, I don't anticipate any sudden changes," Medwed says.
Gardner's team has also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution. They want the high court to reverse a 2007 ruling by the 10th Circuit Court that declined to reverse the death sentence.
If the Supreme Court chooses to hear the case, new Justice Sonia Sotomayor would be the justice assigned to it.
"She is something of a law-and-order judge, at least she was on the 2nd Circuit [Court]," Medwed says. "I don't anticipate her granting Mr. Gardner's requests here."
Sotomayor wrote her first full opinion on capital punishment in January. She upheld the death penalty in a 7-2 ruling.
Gardner is choosing to fast before his anticipated execution. He ate his final meal -- steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and 7-UP -- Tuesday night.
E-mail: ngonzales@ksl.com
