Troy Michael Kell has chosen to die by firing squad for the stabbing death of a fellow prison inmate two years ago.
"I prefer to die by the bullet than by poison," Kell told 6th District Judge David L. Mower on Thursday. He would become the third Utah inmate executed by gunfire since the death penalty was reinstated; Gary Gilmore was the first in 1977.Defense attorney Stephen R. McCaughey has already begun a series of automatic appeals that could keep his client on death row for years.
A jury convicted Kell, 29, of capital murder in the death of Lonnie Blackmon. Kell stabbed the inmate 67 times with a 3-inch-long homemade shank on July 6, 1994. Most of the wounds were concentrated around Blackmon's face, eyes and neck; one punctured his left eye.
A prison video camera caught the attack, which lasted about two minutes, on tape. Prosecutors played the recording for jurors three times and the panel deliberated for only three hours before reaching the death-penalty verdict.
Kell is the youngest inmate serving on Utah's death row. If appeals fail, he would be the first Utahn and only the sixth white man executed in the United States for murdering a black person. Conversely, 100 blacks have been put to death for killing whites, according to an NAACP report.
Kell testified during his trial that he was sorry for killing Blackmon and would give his life if it could bring the man back. Prosecutors scoffed at the apology, noting Kell had told prison guards before he took the stand, "I'm going to win an Academy Award for this one."
But Kell said Thursday he was sincere in his apology to Blackmon's family.
"I want you to know I meant it," Kell said.
Members of Blackmon's family were not in the courtroom when he was sentenced to die. They have filed a $7 million lawsuit against Correction officers because the officers allegedly did nothing to stop the attack.
Mower set the execution for Sept. 27, but appeals will delay it indefinitely.