The meeting was very quick. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole would announce their decision. Gardner would either be executed or his sentence commuted to life in prison without parole. It was very tense. I trained my camera on the victims’ families. The Board announced its unanimous decision not to commute Gardner’s sentence. The [...]
The final witness on day one of the commutation hearing is the offender, Ronnie Lee Gardner. He’s sworn in and makes a statement, then answers questions. His lawyer reads a letter Gardner wrote to Oprah, hoping to get her financial help in starting up a farm for neglected and abused children on some land he [...]
Day one of the commutation hearing. Get to the state prison at the crack of dawn. Leave everything in the car other than my ID and the photo gear that has been previously approved. Also left in my car is a photo editor who will edit and transmit my photos. The hearing is scheduled to [...]
A while back I got a call from an editor who wanted to assign me to the firing squad execution of convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner. He asked me if I’d have any problems doing that, if it would get into my head or whatever. If I were to be a witness to this man [...]
Thelma Moriarty was a World War II bride, having married husband Bernard Moriarty just before he enlisted. Now that many WW II veterans are dying off, their wives remain as the only link to this important time in history.
