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June 17, 2010
Hours away from his scheduled execution by firing squad, Utah death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner has asked Gov. Gary Herbert for a temporary stay, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Gardner, 49, faces execution by firing squad shortly after midnight Friday (2 a.m. ET) for a shooting death during a botched escape attempt from custody in 1985 at a Salt Lake City, Utah, courthouse.
He would be only the third person to die by firing squad in the United States in 33 years.