"Let's Do This": The Convicted Murderer Who Wanted Death
Gary Gilmore; Photo Source: Wikipedia
Confessed murderer Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah at 8:07 a.m. on January 17, 1977. Gilmore wanted death and was even given a choice of the method -- hanging or firing squad. He chose the firing squad.
Gilmore had confessed to two murders of gas attendant Max Jensen and motel manager Ben Bushnell in July of 1976. Both Jensen and Bushnell were robbed and shot to death. Based on the evidence presented at his trial, Gilmore was only convicted of Jensen's murder and sentenced to death.
When his attorneys filed an appeal to reverse the death sentence, Gilmore fired them. He event asked his mother to stop writing letters to officials pleading for the reversal his sentence. Gilmore also refused assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union and other anti-death penalty organizations.
Up until receiving a death sentence, Gilmore had led a life of crime. He was a juvenile delinquent who had served time in jail on and off since the age of 14.
Gilmore was caught and confessed to the murders of Jensen and Bushnell after walking into an auto repair shop with his hand bleeding. During the robbery and murder of Bushnell, Gilmore had accidentally shot himself in the hand. Suspicious of the injury, the mechanic notified authorities. Gilmore's cousin had also notified police. His cousin had taken him in after he was released from prison in the hopes that Gilmore would reform himself.
Gilmore fought for the death penalty because he thought that life in prison was a harsher sentence than death.
In 1979, the book "The Executioner's Song" by Norman Mailer was released about Gilmore's fight to "die with dignity" and was made into a TV movie in 1982, starring Tommy Lee Jones as Gilmore.
Gilmore was the first man executed in the United States since 1967. The United States Supreme Court had ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional in that it was "cruel and unusual punishment in 1972. Capital punishment was reinstated by the United States Supreme Court in 1976, after a majority of states passed new death penalty statutes.
"Crime History: Murderer Gary Gilmore Demands To Be Executed, Gets His Wish," by Mike McPadden, Investigation Discovery Crime Feed, January 17, 2017
"Gary Gilmore Day: 'Let's Do it,' " by Brian McAlary, nowasmuchasever.wordpress.com
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