Utah firing squad executes murderer

A DOUBLE murderer has become the first American prisoner in 14 years to be executed by firing squad in Utah.

Shackled to a chair and with a black hood covering his head, Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, replied: “I do not – no” when he was asked if he had any last words.

There was an unmistakably 21st century twist to his final minutes of life when Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff used micro-blogging site Twitter to announce he had given final approval for the execution.