Gary Gilmore’s eyes saw so many horrors
Gary Gilmore did the opposite of most Death Row inmates.
While some spend decades exhausting every possible avenue to avoid their sentence being carried out, Gilmore demanded the implementation of his own death sentence.
As a result, in 1977 he became infamous for becoming the first person in the US to be executed in 10 years after death penalty statutes had been deemed “cruel and unusual punishment” and therefore unconstitutional, with the Supreme Court ordering all states to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.
From a dysfunctional family, Gilmore had a very high IQ but dropped out of school and, aged 14, started a car-theft ring.
He got into more and bigger trouble, being given a 15-year sentence in 1964 – aged 24 – for assault and armed robbery.
Gilmore was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder with psychotic episodes, and though he was paroled in 1972, he was arrested and convicted of another armed robbery within a month.
Paroled again four years later, he continued his lifestyle of stealing, drinking and getting into fights as his aggressive behaviour worsened.
This culminated in him robbing and murdering a gas station employee in Utah, and the following evening he killed a motel manager.
Both young men complied with Gilmore’s demands but were made to lie down before being shot in the head.
However, while disposing of his revolver, Gilmore accidentally shot himself in the hand, leaving a trail of blood to the service garage where he’d left his truck.
A garage mechanic saw him hiding the gun and, after spotting the blood on his hand and hearing about the motel shooting on a police scanner, wrote down Gilmore’s licence number and called the police.
Gilmore’s cousin turned him in shortly after he asked her for bandages and painkillers, and the police apprehended him as he gave up without attempting to flee.
The trial took just two days before the jury recommended the death penalty. Utah had two methods of execution, hanging or firing squad, and believing the former could be botched Gilmore said: “I’d rather be shot.”
Gilmore was annoyed by a stay of execution, saying, “This is my life and this is my death. It’s been sanctioned by the courts that I die. I accept that.”
On the day of his execution, when asked if he had any last words, Gilmore simply said: “Let’s do it.”
Gilmore requested his eyes be used for transplant – “They’d probably be the only part usable” – and within hours of his death, two people received his corneas, which inspired punk band The Adverts’ song Gary Gilmore’s Eyes.