Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff uses Twitter to get his message out

 

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff uses Twitter to get his message out It was a very modern way to announce a very old-fashioned death.

 

Shortly after midnight in the US state of Utah, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff picked up his Apple iPhone, opened up a Twitter "app" on his handset and began tweeting.

 

But Mr Shurtleff's 134-character composition was no ordinary post. This was not a piece of miscellany from the 53-year-old's home life, a link chosen to amuse or interest his followers, nor even a political prod at his Democratic rivals. Instead, Mr Shurtleff used Twitter to announce that most important of all things: the death of a human being, convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner.

 

"I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner's execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims," the attorney general wrote.

 

The message would have been seen by the 7,000 or so users who "follow" Mr Shurtleff on Twitter. But thanks to the exponential way in which messages are spread on Twitter - being "retweeted" by those who find them interesting - the Utah politician's words soon found their way to a wider audience.

 

In all Mark Shurtleff sent three tweets around the time that a five-man firing squad put Gardner to death. In his first , sent at 1318 local time (1918 GMT) on Thursday, Mr Shurtleff acknowledged the gravity of the occasion. "A solemn day. Barring a stay by Sup Ct [uS Supreme Court], & with my final nod, Utah will use most extreme power & execute a killer. Mourn his victims. Justice".

 

Later he posted confirmation that he had indeed given that "final nod". Fifteen minutes after that, at 0015 local time, his Tweet served a purpose more recognisable to regular users of the service: self-publicity. "We will be streaming live my press conference as soon as I'm told Gardner is dead. Watch it at www.attorneygeneral.Utah.gov/live.html" he wrote.

 

Mr Shurtleff was doing nothing unusual: politicians and news organisations now routinely send out tweets to alert people to the latest developments. But as Twitter users digested endless breaking news flashes alerting them to the death of a man by firing squad in the United States, for some Mr Shurtleff's remarks stood out from the rest.

 

Within minutes a line from the BBC's news story was in circulation: "Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff used the Twitter micro-blogging site to say he had given the go-ahead for execution."

 

Reacting to the news one British tweeter, Sam Delaney, under his username Fyshdesign , wrote simply: "That's awful!"

 

Switzerland-based Guy Ordway added simply: "Crikey". A Bangkok tweeter adopted Twitter parlance, dubbing the event the " twttrexecution ".

 

Another user, known only as Brenstrong, observed in a public reply that: "death penalty bad enough. Firing squad! And there's an absurdity to a man's demise being announced over twitter..."

 

Gardner's execution was not Mr Shurtleff's first foray on Twitter. He first made headlines in 2009 when he posted in public a message intended to be sent privately - revealing tentative plans to run for the US Senate .

 

He has now sent 632 tweets and appears to use the service regularly to update his followers on events in Utah. For some at least, using Twitter to announce the execution of a man is just an extension of that public service. Utah resident Davy, known on Twitter as jockhippie, summed up that train of thought : "Good job mark shurtleff! using twitter!"

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/us_and_canada/10348685.stm

"Yea you and go ahead and kill him now...BUT WAIT HOLD ON LET ME UPDATE MY TWITTER"

:lol:!

this makes me sick.Not only should death be abolished but firing squad, really??madness.And this Mark Shurtleff is just unbelievable

Ugh, he tweeted that? Makes me cringe.

 

As far as the method, I think I'd take firing squad over lethal injection or electrocution. Yes it's old-fashioned, but it's quick (and relatively painless compared to the other two).

Ugh, he tweeted that? Makes me cringe.

 

As far as the method, I think I'd take firing squad over lethal injection or electrocution. Yes it's old-fashioned, but it's quick (and relatively painless compared to the other two).

 

Agreed. The only real disadvantage is that you've got a bunch of bullet holes in your corpse, but you're dead anyway so whatever.

With a slight adjustment, this could be an Onion headline.

This is sick/insane... updating an execution of a person via twitter?

 

 

...they might have well posted a stream of it on youtube since it seems they're trying to "keep up with the times".

Did I hear correctly that it took 25 years since getting sentenced to death and being shot?

Yes.[/color][/b]

 

"Gardner was sentenced to death in 1985 for fatally shooting an attorney during a failed escape attempt from a Salt Lake City courthouse.

 

At the time, he was facing a murder charge in the 1984 shooting death of a bartender named Melvyn Otterstrom. Gardner pulled out a gun that had been smuggled into the courthouse and shot lawyer Michael Burdell in the face as Burdell hid behind a door.

 

In April, a judge ordered the execution to proceed, and Gardner politely declared, "I would like the firing squad, please."

 

He was allowed to choose the firing squad because he was sentenced to death before Utah eliminated it as an option. State officials scrapped it in 1984 after previous executions attracted unwanted publicity."

"Gardner, who once described himself as a "nasty little bugger" with a mean streak, spent his last day sleeping, reading the novel "Divine Justice," watching the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy and meeting with his attorneys and a Mormon bishop.

.

.

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Unlike Gary Gilmore, who famously said "Let's do it" before he was shot on Jan. 17, 1977, Gardner offered few words. Asked if he had anything to say before a black hood was fastened over his head, he said simply, "I do not, no."

 

One of their .30-caliber Winchester rifles was loaded with a blank so no one would know who fired the fatal shots. Gardner was in a straight-backed metal chair, with sandbags stacked around it to keep the bullets from ricocheting around the cinderblock room at the Utah State Prison.

When the prison warden pulled back the beige curtain covering the witness room, Gardner was strapped into the chair, his head secured by a strap across his forehead.

 

Harness-like straps also constrained his chest. His arms were at his sides, handcuffed and strapped to the chair. Affixed to his chest was a white cloth square about 3 inches wide bearing a black target.

 

The AP reporter never saw the rifles and did not hear the countdown to the trigger-pull. Utah Department of Corrections Director Thomas Patterson said the countdown went "5-4-3..." with the shooters starting to fire at the count of 2."

 

That last part is messed up. I suppose you could argue the rest of it is too, but starting before the countdown is done is just...

Yes.[/color][/b]

 

"Gardner was sentenced to death in 1985 for fatally shooting an attorney during a failed escape attempt from a Salt Lake City courthouse.

 

At the time, he was facing a murder charge in the 1984 shooting death of a bartender named Melvyn Otterstrom. Gardner pulled out a gun that had been smuggled into the courthouse and shot lawyer Michael Burdell in the face as Burdell hid behind a door.

 

In April, a judge ordered the execution to proceed, and Gardner politely declared, "I would like the firing squad, please."

 

He was allowed to choose the firing squad because he was sentenced to death before Utah eliminated it as an option. State officials scrapped it in 1984 after previous executions attracted unwanted publicity."

 

The wheels of justice take a long time to turn