Unlike the last time the state carried out a death penalty by firing squad, the rifles for next month's scheduled execution won't be free.
The Utah Department of Corrections has purchased a matched set of Winchester lever-action rifles to be used in the planned executions by firing squad of two convicted killers at the end of June.
The state bought the rifles after learning that the privately owned guns, which were used during the 1996 execution of John Albert Taylor, were no longer available, corrections spokesman Jack Ford said.
The owner of the perfectly matched set of Winchester 30-30's is a retired Salt Lake County sheriff's captain who is in the midst of a divorce. The guns are tangled up in a settlement dispute, so the prison opted to purchase its own weapons, Ford said.
Both Ford and Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard declined to release the captain's name.
"He doesn't want any media attention and I have to respect that," Kennard said.
The new guns, also a perfectly matched set of .30-caliber Old-West-style rifles and the ammunition, cost the state just under $2,000, Ford said. The guns are in a locked vault at the prison but will be test-fired before the executions, which are planned for June 27 and 28.
Roberto Arguelles, 41, who was convicted of raping and murdering four Utah women, is scheduled to face the firing squad June 27. Troy Kell, 34, is to follow on June 28. Kell was convicted of stabbing another inmate to death, while both were at the state prison in Gunnison.
Kell's execution may be delayed. On May 16, his attorney filed a petition for post-conviction relief that claims Kell was inadequately represented during the automatic appeal of his conviction before the Utah Supreme Court. Arguelles can also still file an appeal.
Four of the 11 inmates on death row have elected to die by firing squad — a choice available only in Utah, which allows the condemned person to select between a firing squad or a lethal injection. Idaho retains firing squad as a legal option in executions but uses it only in cases when lethal injection cannot be used. Condemned persons who have a history of intravenous drug use can often not be administered injections because of a problem with collapsed veins, Ford said.
Utah has executed six people in the last 25 years but only two by firing squad.
A firing squad is composed of five Utah peace officers and one alternate. If the state holds both of the scheduled executions in June, a different team of shooters will be required for each squad.
By law, no one from the Department of Corrections can serve on the firing squad, Ford said. To select members of the squad, corrections officials ask for recommendations from the head law enforcement officer in the jurisdiction where the condemned person's offenses occurred. Those people are then interviewed by the corrections department's executive director, who makes the final selection.
The identities of those selected remain a secret, except to only a handful of people, Ford said. They are even paid an undisclosed amount in cash, so that there is no paper trail to connect them with the event.
The weapons used in the execution are also assigned randomly to the members of the squad. Four are loaded with live ammunition and one with a blank. The idea is that no one should know whether or not he fired the fatal shot.
In the execution chamber, the condemned is strapped into a specially crafted black metal chair which has a mesh seat and is affixed with sheets of metal to deflect any stray bullets.
The executioners fire from a distance of about 25 feet and stand behind a cinder-block wall cut with a gun port.
The condemned person is dressed in dark clothing and a prison doctors uses a stethoscope to find the man's heartbeat and then places a white dot on his chest, which serves as a target. A hood is also placed over the man's head.
Arguelles has asked to sit before the firing squad without a hood. Utah statute does not require it, but Ford said the department has not yet decided to grant the request.
E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com