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The title pretty much says it all

Too Much: Utah Attorney General Tweets Execution

by Michael Suen | 11:49 am, June 18th, 2010

In 2010, we have the luxury of a technology like Twitter. We’ve seen it used to shamelessly advertise products, broadcast mundane life updates, and organize resistance to Iran’s “elections” (though reportedly, not to the extent that we’d thought). But we never thought we’d see this: Earlier today, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff tweeted Utah inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner‘s execution by firing squad. WTF?

Gardner, charged for a robbery and murder in 1984, was escorted into the old Salt Lake City courthouse on April 2nd of the next year. Suddenly, he was brandishing a gun that had been planted in the building by an accomplice and firing indiscriminately. Before he was subdued, an attorney had been killed and a guard wounded.

Sentenced to death in November 1985, Gardner has finally met his maker 25 years and multiple Supreme Court appeals later: He elected for the firing squad, a method open to him as he was convicted prior to Utah’s adoption of lethal injection in 2004, and was executed. Reportedly, he spent the last hours of his life watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy. When asked if he had any last words, he replied: “I do not. No.” Stone cold.

But the real morbid twist is Shurtleff’s not one, not two, but three tweets about Gardner’s execution. Let’s do a quick run down, shall we? Uno:

A solemn day. Barring a stay by Sup Ct, & with my final nod, Utah will use most extreme power & execute a killer. Mourn his victims. Justice

Of course, Shurtleff doesn’t forget to include “& with my final nod” – that’s right folks, let’s not forget who we’re really talking about here when we say “most extreme power.” And he didn’t even punctuate “Justice.”

Number Two:

I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims.

Again, “I just gave the go ahead.” We got that earlier, you gave the “final nod” remember? Too bad it’s not this Nod I’m talking about here.

And finally, the Big Three:

We will be streaming live my press conference as soon as I’m told Gardner is dead. Watch it at www.attorneygeneral.Utah.gov/live.html

I think we can conclude that Shurtleff is the master of self-promotion. If you didn’t notice, all his tweets were done over TwitBird iPhone. I’m sure TwitBird will enjoy a spike in downloads after this; hell, if you can run a state’s legal affairs, keep up to date on death and tweet at the same time, then it’s GOT to be an effective application. If Shurtleff’s in need of a job after his run as attorney general, he needn’t fret. New media marketers are sure to pick him up.

(h/t Gizmodo)

  • Kerensky97

    I think all this upset at these twitter posts is false outrage just because it’s a first for twitter. I don’t like Shurtleff and voted for the other guy but as with most all government representatives using twitter his feed is more for news of his office rather than him posting what he’s having for lunch.

    His posting instant updates of what his office is doing is one of the few legit uses twitter has, I wish more government agencies has twitter feeds that told us what they were doing as they did it; one thing our government needs is more transparency. Sure his post didn’t have the cold impersonal nature of a news tidbit off the wire but it’s posted from the actual person who just signed the order to send a person to their death. “From the horses” mouth as the saying goes.

    It’s a shocker but politicians are just regular human beings like you and me. And frankly since they’re working on my dime I like them to keep me updated on what official business they are doing.

  • http://www.geekosystem.com/ Michael Suen

    @Kerensky97, thanks for posting.

    I think Twitter is a great tool for government transparency. I’m well aware politicians are regular human beings, and I don’t disagree with your suggestion that the government ought to utilize new and social media to keep its constituents/tax-payers informed. And do it with character, I might add. I’m not the robotic AP-wire-gazing blogger you might think.

    This is one incident which had been very transparent throughout. As I’m sure you’re aware, the media ambushed the story of Gardner’s drawn out legal battle and ultimate execution. To me, Shurtleff’s tweets appear unwarranted, self-promotional, and flat out morbid. But hey, to each their own.


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