Condemned Utah killer executed by firing squad

    LOS ANGELES, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Ronnie Lee Gardner became the third person in Utah and the United States to have been executed by a firing squad¹ when he was put to death by five marksmen on Friday morning, a local newspaper reported.
    The killer², 49, who was sentenced（判处死刑） to death for murdering two people 25 years ago, died at 12:17 a.m. local time of wounds from four .30-caliber rifle rounds in his chest at a maximum-security facility in Utah State Prison, Desert News reported on its website.
    Gardner was strapped³ in a chair, with a hood⁴ over his head and a white target on his heart when he was fired upon by fire executioners（刽子手） who shot from behind curtains and a ported brick wall, the report said.
    Friends and family spent the crucial time in a parking lot overlooking the prison where Gardner had been held and executed, the newspaper reported.
    According to the newspaper, both the U.S Supreme⁵ Court and Gov. Gary Herbert denied requests to stay Gardner's execution during his final hours of life. Herbert twice denied last minute attempts by Gardner's attorney to spare his life.
    Attorney Andrew Parnes complained that no court had given Gardner a "full and fair adjudication," claiming that otherwise Gardner would have a life sentence.
    Gardner picked firing squad out of his preference, not a desire to embarrass the state or draw publicity⁶ to his case, his attorneys said.
    He was the third inmate⁷ to be shot by a team of marksmen since a nationwide moratorium⁸ on the death penalty was lifted in 1976, and the first in Utah since John Albert Taylor's execution in 1996. Taylor was sentenced to death for the 1988 rape⁹ and strangulation of an 11-year-old girl. He also chose a firing squad as a method of execution.
    Utah is the only state still using shooters, and only the four men on death row who initially¹⁰ selected the firing squad before the state eliminated it in 2004 could still choose bullets over lethal¹¹ injection.
    Forty of the 50 men, excluding Gardner's execution, legally executed in Utah since 1852 have been killed by firing squad, according to Weber State University criminologist L. Kay Gillespie.
    Six were executed by hanging -- an option along with beheading under Utah's first capital-punishment law -- and four by lethal injection.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

7 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

8 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

9 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

10 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

11 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。