Unlike the onslaught of media that converged for the event, protesters and supporters of capital punishment were relatively few in number prior to John Albert Taylor's execution.
Prayer vigils in Salt Lake City were near empty Thursday in the hours before midnight. About a dozen people gathered in a Provo service. And a group of students from Weber State University gathered near the prison "for extra credit and to experience it.""Basically, we're all for the execution," said Jeff Dixon, a psychology major at WSU, who was with a handful of other students at the Point of the Mountain. "Because there was a child involved like this, there's no question in my mind."
"It's a good thing they're going through with it," said Scott Keppler, also from WSU. "But just because he's dying doesn't really finalize it. I mean it's sad to say, but still something has to be done for what he did. I don't know."
The students showed up as part of a criminal justice class, taught by L. Kay Gillespie, one of the seven government witnesses selected for the execution.
About 15 to 20 other people braved freezing temperatures to be near the site of the execution. A few shunned media attention, not even answering if they were for or against the action, while others arrived atop the hillside above the prison in an apparent celebratory state, drinking beer and listening to music.
But one woman said she came to remember 11-year-old Charla Nicole King.
"I think we've forgotten about the victims when we deal with this kind of thing," said Makell Darrohn of Farmington. "Too many variables - except the reality of what happened to the victims and their families - get mixed in and the manner of the death is just an excuse for both sides to argue their points."
Carol Gnade, Utah director of the American Civil Liberties Union, was tearful as she sat in the virtual silence of St. Ann's Catholic Church in Salt Lake City.
"It only accentuates how hard this battle is, how many people's minds we have to change," Gnade said, noting the difficulty of imagining that killing Taylor was somehow a solution to his killing of King.
Salt Lake resident Perry Anderson was one of the few people to visit St. Ann's.
"I'm sorry I'm one of the only people here," Anderson said. "The big problem I have is we're putting someone to death and it's just snowfall all night and nobody will know and nobody will care."
In Provo, about a dozen people, mostly women, gathered at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish Thursday night to read from prayer books, listen to religious music and meditate in the final hours leading to the execution.
With a black veil draped over her head, Elizabeth Gleason, Orem, appeared to be the most fervent of those who took a moment to reflect and pray.
"I'm against capital punishment," she said. "It's not our place to take a man's life even if that man has made a bad decision. We lose a piece of ourselves every time we do this."
Gleason said she went to the church to pray for Taylor's soul. She said she also prayed for Sherron King, the mother of Taylor's victim.
"This is probably the second hardest night of her life. I pray for her. I hope she's at peace," she said.
Linda Anderson, a Provo criminal defense attorney, thought hard and chose her words carefully after being asked why she stopped in St. Francis' about 10:30 p.m.
"It's just an opportunity to pause and reflect over the value of life in light of the state's ability to take it," she said.
Anderson's not convinced the state has that right. "I guess I believe life's to be valued at any stage. The actions of a convicted felon can be questioned, but I'm not sure the value of his existence can be," she said.
Toni Billings, Provo, and her daughters, Crystal, 13, and Bonnie, 10, spent a few minutes in contemplation.
"I think about Charla King and just what it is we can do to bring more strength to our families," she said.
Billings also said she thought about how society deals with issues such as capital punishment. "We go about our busy day and have fun and you really don't think about these things," she said.