The following are comments from the nine reporters who witnessed the execution:
- Craig Wall, KSL: "It was eerie. I heard `Three,' then boom. The cloth target on his chest just seemed to disappear. It was an odd sensation. There was a huge surge of adrenaline when the shot came, because we were all anticipating it. It left me feeling kind of numb. When we left to go back after it was over, I felt a pain in my chest. There was the smell of chlorine and blood and death. I wouldn't do it again, but I don't regret doing it."- Paul Murphy, KTVX: "The curtains immediately opened and I saw this large man strapped to the chair. There seemed to be a lot of fear in his eyes. His chest heaved up and his chest was covered with blood. Before the hood was placed, his eyes kept racing back and forth. It was much more violent than I expected."
- Matt Brown, Associated Press: "I, too, noticed his eyes; they seemed nervous. The 45 seconds it took for them to put the hood on, to when the shots were fired seemed like one, maybe two minutes. His head slumped, tilted, to the right. The shot left an impression the diameter of a dime, about a quarter-inch deep in the back of the chair. The pan at the bottom of the chair had very little blood."
- Amy Donaldson, Deseret News: "It was less violent than I expected. I didn't think it appeared gory; it was cleaner and less violent than I expected. I was trying to absorb as much detail. No sympathy, I guess I was trying to take in the awesomeness of the whole thing.
- Amy Joi Bryson, Standard-Examiner: "It was anticlimactic. The worst part was waiting, it seemed to take forever. I kept thinking to myself, `Where's the blood?' In some ways it was violent, in some ways it was antiseptic, clinical. I wrote Charla's name across my notepad to remind me why I was there. I don't think it was barbaric."
- Scott McGrew, KSTU: "When we were in there, I was thinking to myself, `They're really not going to do this, are they?' What surprised me was when they were putting the band around his neck, they seemed to be doing it rather politely. (In regards to the shooting) With no disrespect to prison officials, who are they to do this?"
- Kevin Stanfield, KALL: "I think this had a more profound effect on me than I thought it would. It happened . . . extremely fast. I remember seeing the paleness of his face. Going into this, I didn't have my mind made up about capital punishment, and it's too emotional right now."
- Harold Schindler, Salt Lake Tribune: "I think I had the best vantage point of anyone, I could see the gun port, the prisoner and the clock. The atmosphere was foreboding, I think deliberately done this way. (The execution) was as good as could be done. He was under amazingly close control of himself. It was efficient, not messy."
- Michael Rawson, KUTV: "He was curious, alert and steady. His forthrightness was compelling. . . . All movements were precise. It wasn't as dramatic as I expected, but it wasn't anticlimactic."