Two loud bangs end 25 years on death row for Gardner 

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 06/18/2010 08:03:55 AM MDT 

Draper, Utah » 

 Five shots. 

Four bullets. 

With two loud bangs in quick succession, Ronnie Lee Gardner’s quarter century on Utah’s death row ended. . . read more   

.     .     .

In the Reader Comments following the article, between the redneck ‘git ‘er done’ crowd, and the hand-wringing opponents of the death penalty — those arguing for final justice, and those asking who are we to judge — there was a decided appeal to the will of the almighty, on both sides.

I submitted these observations myself:

UnfaithfulServant:  6/18/2010 10:15:00 AM

My 1st thought:

Maybe they should’ve let the doctor position the target — the heart is in the middle of the chest.

My second thought:

It’s tragic that anyone’s life should come to this. But actions based on the rule of law, and moral judgement, are two different things.

If you believe that  “Judgement is mine, sayeth . . .”,  then it ought to be possible to defer moral judgment to gawdalmighty, while at the same time sending him on to said imagined deity for judgment.  And even if you don’t, you can see the warrant of execution carried out, without all the moralizing.

An afterthought:

As Clint said, in the latest remake of The Unforgiven:

We’ve all got it coming, kid.