Tuesday, January 18, 1977

THE MICHIGAN DALLY

Page Three

Tuesday, January 18, 1977 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three


Gilmore

first

executed

in

U. .

since

'67

(Continued from Page 1)
chilly night outside the prison.
A passerby threw an egg at a
priest kneeling in prayer.
THEY AND REPORTERS did
not hear \the gunshots which
killed Gilmore because the exe-
cution took place in a onetime
cannery, with cinderblock walls,
deep inside the prison, com-
pound.
When his body was removed
from the prison, a nurse was
seen putting drops in his eyes.
Officials said this was to pre-
serve the corneas for trans-
plant. He had willed parts of
his body for transplant purpos-
es.
After the U.S. Supreme Court
closed the last avenue of ap-
peal, Warden Sam Smith, who
had denied Gilmore's request
to die bareheaded and stand-
ing, indicated all was ready at
the Utah State Prison. The guns
blazed through rectangular
holes in a canvas screen.
GILMORE'S HEAD jerked, and
blood flowed from beneath his
black t-shirt onto his white pri-
son slacks, over the padded ny-
lon straps and leather seat of
the chair, then dripped to the
plywood platform below.
The bullets ripped through
the chair and a three-quarter-
inch plywood board behind it,
splattering blood, and buried
themselves in a pile of sand-
bags. Gilmore's hooded body
remained erect, twitching, for
perhaps 20 seconds.
He died as he had demanded
for months, while rejecting all
efforts to appeal the death sen-
sence in his behalf, and an un-
official moratorium on capital
punishment dating back to 1967
had ended.

UNCERTAINTY over the de-
liberations and decisions of the
U.S. Supreme Court had stayed
execuions for nearly a decade.
The high court turned down the
final appeal for Gilmore's life
just four minutes before the
riflemen opened fire.
"Gary, my nephew, died like
he wanted to die, in dignity,"
sand Vern Damico, who wit-
nessed the execution. "It was
very upsetting to me, but he
got his wish, he did die, and
he died in dignity."
"What we've gone through'
these last several hours is one
of the very difficult things that
a society could inflict upon a
human being," said Robert
Moody, one of Gilmore's attor-
neys and another witness.
"TO BE WITH Gary Gilmore,
who has prepared so valiantly
to face and receive the penalty
that was pronounced upon him,
to prepare for that time, and
then have all of these other
people with their causes come
and inflict upon him a torture,
a pain, a suffering that is dif-
ficult for any of us to compre-
hend, then to witness how the
laws that our legislature have
seen fit to impose upon us in
this state - I think it's a very
brutal, cruel kind of a thing
and I would only hope that we
take a good and a better look
at ourselves, our society and
our system."
Ron Stanger, Gilmore's other
attorney, said he, Moody and
Gilmore's relatives spent the
night with the 36-year-old killer,
who tried to buoy their spirits,
taught them how to box, and
danced with a cousin.
During the night lawyers for
the American Civil Liberties

Union (ACLU) scran
court to court and st
in a desperate eff
the execution.
THEY WERE TUR
Sunday by two U.S
Court justices. They
to federal judge Wi
who ordered the exe
ed at 1:05 a.m., and,
ied by a U:S. mar
to the prison to serv
himself.
The Utah attorney
office immediately
Chief Judge David L
10th Circuit Court, w
Salt Lake City, and
call an emergency
the appellate court
Lewis, Utah Attorn
Robert Hansen and1
yer Judith Wolbach
the Rocky Mountains
ing, where the court
Ritter and ordered h
out of the case.
THE FULL U.S
Court rejected the f
minutes later, after J
ron White and Thu
shall refused indiv
stay the execution.
Larry Schiller, the
bought the rights to
.life story and who
the execution, said G

mbled from his all-night visitors first real-
ate to state ized the execution was on at
ort to halt 7:44 a.m., when Stanger heard
that the trial judge in Provo
tNED down had amended the execution or-
. Supreme der to allow the riflemen to fire
then went not specifically at sunrise but
illis Ritter, anytime during the day.
cution stay- "Oh, my God," Stanger said.
accompan- At 7:51 the gropp learned that
shal, drove the 10th Circuit Court had ruled
e the 'order that the execution could pro-
ceed, he said.
y general's ABOUT TWO MINUTES later,
went to Gilmore was taken to a prison
lewis of the storage building formerly used
iho lives in as a cannery, from which news-
got him to men were barred. The witness-
session of es were escorted into the 40-by-
in' Denver. 100-foot concrete block structure
iey General after Gilmore and the firing
ACLU law- squad were already in place.
flew over The witnesses shook hands,
for a hear- embraced and exchanged last
overturned goodbyes with the condemned
him to stay man and then moved away
from the execution area.
Supreme Smith read the formal execu-
inal appeal tion order to Gilmore, and ask-
Justices By- ed if he had any last words.
rgood Mar- "GARY LOOKED UP for ant
vidually to extended period of time," said
Schiller, "then looked directly,
agent who and I believe his words ... to
Gilmore's be, 'Let's do it.'"
witnessed Schiller said: "His voice was
ilmore and firm, his eyes were not too

glassy. He seemed in fill capa-
bility of his thoughts. He did
not seem that he was unaware
of what was going on - to the
contrary, he was in command
of his own body and mind."
He said a priest administered
rites to Gilmore as prison per-
sonnel placed a black corduroy
hood over his head under the
glare of a floodlamp, mounted
on a ceiling beam and trained
on the chair.
OUT OF THE corner of his
eye, Schiller said he saw the
warden signal that all was rea-
dy.
"And then, bang-bang. I heard
three noises in quick, rapid suc-
cession. If there were a fourth,
it overlapped: bang-bang-bang,
like that.
"Gary's body moved, his head
turned slightly to the left. It
stayed erect. There was a slight
movement of his hands ... and
slowly red blood emerged from
under the black tee-shirt onto
the white slacks.
"It seemed to me that his
body still had a movement in
it for approximately 15 to 20
seconds. It's not for me to de-
termine whether that is an aft-
er-death or a prior-to-death
movement."
SCHILLER SAID a doctor
checked the body for pulse and
heartbeat, Smith "surveyed"
the scene, and the witnesses

left.
They went to a room at the
prison administration building-
where the press had been 'forced1
to wait for word that the exe-i
cution had taken place.1
Damico, the uncle who gave
Gilmore a job in his Provo shoe,
repair shop when his nephew,
was paroled from Oregon after
18 years behind bars, made a,
brief statement.
STANGER, HIS VOICE break-t
ing and his eyes wet, said Gil-,
more considered himself fortu-,
nate because he knew when he 1
would die, and could make his
plans and his peace.
"I talked with him in the
wee hours of the morning, and
he did express thanks for many
of the things that happened to
him and expressed sorrow for
the deeds that he did," the at-
torney said of the confessed
murderer:
"But he was a good man, in
that he loved children, he wrote
letters to them, and he was al-
ways asking about our chil-1
dren."
GILMORE'S BODY wassent
to the University of Utah Medi-
cal Center, where doctors were
to use parts of it for transplants
and research before a family
funeral in Provo and cremation.
Gilmore donated his body to
medicine.

Prison personnel escorted re- THE SENTENCE of the court
porters to the concrete-block on Gary Gilmore --convicted
building where Gilmore was of murdering 26-year-old motel
killed, and where his blood had clerk Bennie Bushnell during a
not yet dried on the wood-and- robbery last summer and admit=
leather captain's chair. ted ° killer of 24-year-old Max
Three bullet holes - one ap- Jensen in another robbery -
parently made by two slugs .- had been carried out.
pierced the leather backrest "He always said, constantly,
and the straw matting beneath that he looked forward to. the
was red with blood. The killer's time when he could have quiet,
blood remained on the platform, when he could meditate," said
the seat and back of the chair Stanger.
and the splintered plywood "And today Gary Gilmore has
board to which the chair was quiet. He has quiet for eter-
bolted. nity."
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Sorensen drops out


Ford submits '78
budget proposals
(Continued from Page 1) 'rate, to which Congress has
sible that 'it could be in total been cool.
acieved byal8 ce s u case Ford proposed a $12-billion
he said. Carter has pledged increase in, defense spending
to balance the budget by 1881 over the 1977 level, which was
Ford's tax program calls f $10 billion aboce that of the
$7.2 billion in individual and previous year.
corporate income-tax relief in The budget document said
1977 and $14.7 billion in 1978, the Soviet Union has modern-
with additional cuts later. ized every major component
HE STILL estimated a $39- of its forces. U. S. security
billion increase in government and world peace, the document
revenues in 1978 over 1977. said, are challenged by "the
This, however, assumed enact- expanding, worldwide military
ment of his proposal to in- capabilities of the Soviet Union
crease the Social Security tax and its allies."
Man kills himself
in Was htenaw jail

(Continued from Page 1)
"THE GOVERNOR and I
jointly reached a conclusion . .
that there is substantial opposi-
tion which would result either
in my rejection, which would
handicap this administration as
it getts off to a new start, or
result in my, being confirmed
by a narrow vote, which would
handicap my effectiveness as I
got off to a start," Sorensen
said.
In Plains, Ga., Carter said
Sorensen's action was "designed
to spare the administration and
the country the effects of a di-
visive 'and emotional contro-
versy.
"I deeply regret this situa-
tion," Carter said.
OPPOSITION to Sorensen bad
escalated since Friday, with
conservative Republicans taking
the lead, but with some Demo-
crats saying they hadn't decided
whether to support confirmation.
Before he withdrew, Sorensen
delivered a lengthy statement
of rebuttal, denying:
-That he knew of plots to as-
sassinate foreign leaders er that

he had advance knowledge of
the Bay of Pigs invasion when
he was a Kennedy adviser.
-That he acted improperly in
using classified White House
documents in writing his his-
tory of the Kennedy admninist a-
tion or in taking a tax deduc-
tion for donating them to a li-
brary.
-That his declaration of mor-
al opposition to killing when he
registered for the draft in' 1946
meant that he was a pacifist.
He said he is not.
Sorensen said there was a
campaign against him by op-
ponents who differ with his
views on management of the
CIA.. He did not identify them.
He said he wanted the agency
to be more open and stable, and
to furnish only objective intel-
ligence, not policy proposals.
"These critics prefer to view
this post as part of the nation-
al security decision-making ap-
paratus and prefer in that post
someone with policy commit-
ments more like their own" he
said.

Fraternity CoordinatingCouncil,
announces
GWI1NTER IJUSHI
Mass MeetlinL '77
THURSDAY JANUARY20 7:30-

I

ASS

EMBLY HALL, MICHIGAN UNION

..if it's all greek to you,
see what it means to us...

i



"Man's mind
Stretched to a New Idea
Never goes back
To its original dimensions."
lvliver wendell holimes


(Continued from Page 1)
THE NEWLY- installed sher-
iff said he wants more cooper-
ation between his department
and the Community Mental
Health Center of Washtenaw
County in order to prevent an-
other "tragedy."
"If there's no room (in local
mental hospitals)," he said,
"room should be made."
The Mental Health Center
coordinates mental health care
in the county.
TWENTY - ONE JAIL sui-
cides took place in Michigan
last year, one of them in Wash-
tenaw County. Minick said
there were several unsuccess-
ful attempts in county jails as
well.
Hughes apparently formed a
noose out of a bed sheet slung
over the bars of his cell and
jumped off his cot at 4:30 p.m.!
Sunday. He was found shortly
after by an officer making a 15-
minute - interval check of the
cell block.
O f fice r s had checked!
Hughes' cell block only at 30-
minute intervals before Jan. 3,
Minick said. but surveillance
was stenped up after Hughes'
diesr~nsis.
HUGHES WAS housed in an
area which consisted of five
one - person cells in a row.
This kind of cluster, rather
then an isolated or multi-nerson
cell, was deemed best for
Hagbes beemyse he wnld not'
be alone. Minick said. low-
ever, a brick wall blocks it
from the floor entrance, mak-
ing 24-hour surveillance impos-
sible.
According to Minick, none of
the three nrisoners near Hughes
knew of his rons. The inmate
in the cell neat to Plebhes' said
}, spoke to him after the of-
ficer nassed on the check im-
mediately preceding Hhies'
death, vet was unaware of
PH'uhes "killing himself.
Minick said he thoueh that
everything nossible was done
to prevent the suiide, but that
he hones to nroxiH., btter
trainintr nronrtrms fnr nfficer to

help them be sensitive to prob-
lem patients.
MINICK ALSOlooks
to the new jail facility - which
should open in late September
at the Washtenaw County Serv-
ice Center on Washtenaw
Ave. - to help alleviate the
surveillance problem. The fa-
cility is designed for 24-hour
surveillance.
But although the prison itself
it part of the problem, the
sheriff said, "the primary
problem is that these people
don't belong in this facility."
Minick reluctantly has plac-
ed four other prisoners "who
have potentially the same prob-
lem" in an area under 24-hour
watch. "I don't think it's our
place , to accommodate this
kind of prisoner," he said,
"but . . . it is imperative that
we do it until we get rid of
them."
"I am not trying to shift the
blame," he said. "We accept
what has happened. I hope
we'll reap some benefit (from
this incident which has been a)
tragedy for all, of us."

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ATTENTION

LSA COLLEGE- STUDENTS
The LSA Student Government is currently making appoint-
ments to the following college committees:
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE
ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD 
STUDENT-FACULTY POLICY BOARD
There are also 3 vacant LSA Student Government Executive Council
ca ~ r + arfni. fi a n .....t L.,+ . . r l A i . ..t . ....1t.1


When someone drinks too
much and then drives, it's the silence
that kills. Your silence.
It kills your friends, your
relatives, and people you don't even
know. But they're all people you
could save.
If you knew what to say,
maybe you'd be less quiet. Maybe}
fewer people would die.
What you should say is, "I'll
drive you home." Or, "Let me call a
cab." Or, "Sleep on my couch
tonight."
Don't hesitate because your
T,.:u va l'%Wf- Anrifinrinn o li

coffee never made anyone sober.
Maybe it would keep him awake
long enough to have an accident
But that's about all.
The best way to prevent a
drunk from becoming a dead drunk
is to stop him from driving.
Speak up. Don't let silence be
the last sound he hears.
jDRUNK DRIVER, DFEr.Y A-i
BOX 2345' !
IROCKVILE,MARYLAND 20852
I I don't want to remain silent.
1Tell me what else I can do.

Ii