Twenty-five years after the 1985 murder of his attorney during an escape attempt in Utah --Ronnie Lee Gardner, the convicted murderer, has exhausted all his appeals and on April 12 will tell the court whether he wants to die by firing squad or lethal injection. A judge will set a date for his death in May or June.

In 1984 Gardner was being tried for another murder when his girlfriend smuggled a handgun to him. Bizarrely he used it to shoot and kill his defense attorney and wound a bailiff before being recaptured, tried and convicted.

In 2004 the Utah State Legislature did away with the firing squad as a death penalty. But four of Utah's death row inmates are "grandfathered in." Gardner, 49, originally opted for death by firing squad. He is now seeking information on members of the firing squad apparently to help him make his decision.

In 1977 double murderer Gary Mark Gilmore, then 36, was executed in Utah by firing squad becoming the first person executed after the U. S. lifted a ban on capital punishment. Gilmore’s firing squad execution creating something of a sensation when video of his execution became public. In 1996 another convicted murderer was executed by firing squad.

Utah state corrections officials say death by firing squad could create a circus.