Capital punishment in Utah

[1] Utah Territory was established in September 1850, and it permitted condemned prisoners to choose between hanging and firing squad.

[4][8] Utah attempted to reintroduce death penalty statutes during the moratorium but they were struck down by the 1972 United States Supreme Court decision in the case Furman v.

[12] The first bill proposing to eliminate the firing squad option was introduced in the Utah House of Representatives in January 1996.

[13] In 2004, the legislature passed HB180, which removed the right of the condemned to choose the method of execution and left lethal injection as the only remaining option in the state.

[14] Legislation signed by Utah Governor Gary Herbert in March 2015 restores the firing squad as a legal method of execution, requiring its use if the state is unable to obtain the necessary lethal injection drugs within 30 days of a scheduled execution.

In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial).

[25] The power of clemency with respect to death sentences belongs to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, which consists of five members appointed by the governor with consent of the state senate.