The Executioner's Song

[Solon]

Just read The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. It's almost 1100 pages long (!!!), but pretty fascinating.

The short version is that it's about Gary Gilmore, the guy who killed a couple of people in Utah County in summer 1976, was sentenced to die, and refused to appeal his sentence, essentially forcing the state of Utah to carry out the country's first execution in 10 years.

The longer version is that Mailer writes about almost everyone who even tangentially touched this story. Gilmore's crazy girlfriend, who tried to kill herself to be with him, his relatives, his attorneys, other inmates, etc.

I've heard about Gilmore quite a bit, but I didn't know all of the details of the story. The book is a little hard on the LDS church, but I felt that this was more the voices of the story rather than Mailer's personal take. One tragically funny story is when authorities are trying to find the bishop of the family of one of the victims. All they know is that his name is "Bishop Christensen." The cops opened the Provo phone book, only to find 3+ pages of Christensens (or similarly spelled variants). Kind of funny, if you've been around Utah for awhile.

Although I think Mailer tries a little too hard to pigeonhole Gilmore as a sexual deviant who suffered from generational violence (it could use a little more of a deft and subtle touch), and he gets bogged down in details (1000+ pages of them), but the stories of the people, and the way that the media attempted to capitalize on this story (Geraldo Rivera comes across as particularly slimy) are pretty intriguing. Also, if you're from Utah, it's a much different view of Utah County than you usually encounter. It's a culture of blue-collar workers, drugs, violence, mental illness, and poverty. I guess even "Happy Valley" has a seedy underbelly.

Anyway, I recommend it.

Any of you old-timers remember the Gilmore case? I asked my mom, but she said she lost too much brain matter dealing with me and my sister in the summer of 1976 to remember much. I'd be interested to hear other people's memories of this story.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Just read The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. It's almost 1100 pages long (!!!), but pretty fascinating.

Any of you old-timers remember the Gilmore case? I asked my mom, but she said she lost too much brain matter dealing with me and my sister in the summer of 1976 to remember much. I'd be interested to hear other people's memories of this story.

I remember it very well. Bishop Christensen lived across the street from us on 3rd East, and one the victims (Bushnell) was in our ward, although he was inactive. The other victim, Max Jensen, had a study carrel next to mine in the JRCLS and we had just finished our first years at the law school. That summer I was clerking part time for Ron Stanger, Gilmore's attorney after the conviction who was asked by Gilmore to help get all of the appeals (by the ACLU and others) eliminated so the execution could proceed. Stanger observed he might have been the first attorney ever hired to help get his client shot.

I haven't read the book, but I did watch the movie (Tommy Lee Jones played Gilmore, and Rosanna Arquette played his nutty girlfriend) and it was really quite good and true to the story. That was a really lousy summer, although the Teton Dam disaster in June was interesting.

[creekster]

Just read The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. It's almost 1100 pages long (!!!), but pretty fascinating.

The short version is that it's about Gary Gilmore, the guy who killed a couple of people in Utah County in summer 1976, was sentenced to die, and refused to appeal his sentence, essentially forcing the state of Utah to carry out the country's first execution in 10 years.

The longer version is that Mailer writes about almost everyone who even tangentially touched this story. Gilmore's crazy girlfriend, who tried to kill herself to be with him, his relatives, his attorneys, other inmates, etc.

I've heard about Gilmore quite a bit, but I didn't know all of the details of the story. The book is a little hard on the LDS church, but I felt that this was more the voices of the story rather than Mailer's personal take. One tragically funny story is when authorities are trying to find the bishop of the family of one of the victims. All they know is that his name is "Bishop Christensen." The cops opened the Provo phone book, only to find 3+ pages of Christensens (or similarly spelled variants). Kind of funny, if you've been around Utah for awhile.

Although I think Mailer tries a little too hard to pigeonhole Gilmore as a sexual deviant who suffered from generational violence (it could use a little more of a deft and subtle touch), and he gets bogged down in details (1000+ pages of them), but the stories of the people, and the way that the media attempted to capitalize on this story (Geraldo Rivera comes across as particularly slimy) are pretty intriguing. Also, if you're from Utah, it's a much different view of Utah County than you usually encounter. It's a culture of blue-collar workers, drugs, violence, mental illness, and poverty. I guess even "Happy Valley" has a seedy underbelly.

Anyway, I recommend it.

Any of you old-timers remember the Gilmore case? I asked my mom, but she said she lost too much brain matter dealing with me and my sister in the summer of 1976 to remember much. I'd be interested to hear other people's memories of this story.

I recall it very well. I was fascinated by his execution, and his stated desire to halt his appeal. He was a creep, but it was a griupping story, esp in ligh tof hte legal backdrop on capital punishment.

[Solon]

I remember it very well. Bishop Christensen lived across the street from us on 3rd East, and one the victims (Bushnell) was in our ward, although he was inactive. The other victim, Max Jensen, had a study carrel next to mine in the JRCLS and we had just finished our first years at the law school. That summer I was clerking part time for Ron Stanger, Gilmore's attorney after the conviction who was asked by Gilmore to help get all of the appeals (by the ACLU and others) eliminated so the execution could proceed. Stanger observed he might have been the first attorney ever hired to help get his client shot.

Wow. You're practically in this book. Seriously, that's amazing.

[Surfah]

That was a really lousy summer, although the Teton Dam disaster in June was interesting.

My mother talks about that one. She was going to Ricks I think and living in Rigby when it occurred.

[SeattleUte]

Just read The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. It's almost 1100 pages long (!!!), but pretty fascinating.

The short version is that it's about Gary Gilmore, the guy who killed a couple of people in Utah County in summer 1976, was sentenced to die, and refused to appeal his sentence, essentially forcing the state of Utah to carry out the country's first execution in 10 years.

The longer version is that Mailer writes about almost everyone who even tangentially touched this story. Gilmore's crazy girlfriend, who tried to kill herself to be with him, his relatives, his attorneys, other inmates, etc.

I've heard about Gilmore quite a bit, but I didn't know all of the details of the story. The book is a little hard on the LDS church, but I felt that this was more the voices of the story rather than Mailer's personal take. One tragically funny story is when authorities are trying to find the bishop of the family of one of the victims. All they know is that his name is "Bishop Christensen." The cops opened the Provo phone book, only to find 3+ pages of Christensens (or similarly spelled variants). Kind of funny, if you've been around Utah for awhile.

Although I think Mailer tries a little too hard to pigeonhole Gilmore as a sexual deviant who suffered from generational violence (it could use a little more of a deft and subtle touch), and he gets bogged down in details (1000+ pages of them), but the stories of the people, and the way that the media attempted to capitalize on this story (Geraldo Rivera comes across as particularly slimy) are pretty intriguing. Also, if you're from Utah, it's a much different view of Utah County than you usually encounter. It's a culture of blue-collar workers, drugs, violence, mental illness, and poverty. I guess even "Happy Valley" has a seedy underbelly.

Anyway, I recommend it.

Any of you old-timers remember the Gilmore case? I asked my mom, but she said she lost too much brain matter dealing with me and my sister in the summer of 1976 to remember much. I'd be interested to hear other people's memories of this story.

My first secretary after I graduated law school was the best one I would ever have. She was the only one of two I've ever had who had a college degree; she was a member of Mensa. She was also kind of an odd duck. She was married to a prison inmate about a dozen years younger than her whom she met as a prison counselor. She divorced a husband and two kids to marry this guy, and had a child on with him, conceived when he was on parole (his parole had been revoked when I met her but he was released after about eight years behind bars when she was still working for me; he was in for sexual assault). I thought the world of her; she was very smart and professional.

Anyway, she loaned me the Executioner's Song, which she loved. I loved it to. I read it in the deliberate way I read books I admire, and savored every particle of it. I think it's Mailer's greatest work by far.

[il Padrino Ute]

I hate it when people talk about the cute things their secretary does.

[LA Ute]

I recall it very well. I was fascinated by his execution, and his stated desire to halt his appeal. He was a creep, but it was a griupping story, esp in ligh tof hte legal backdrop on capital punishment.

I was in college at the U. at the time. I remember sitting in my car just before my 7:45 class was to start and hearing the radio report that he had just been executed. Quite a time.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I was in college at the U. at the time. I remember sitting in my car just before my 7:45 class was to start and hearing the radio report that he had just been executed. Quite a time.

I recall that moment as well, and wondered what Max (who I believe was Gilmore's first victim) thought of it. Benny Bushnell, his second victim, was a bit of a troubled soul, and his family was understandably extremely bitter about his murder and years later continued to struggle emotionally. The Jensens, on the other hand, were remarkably forgiving. The Sunday before he was murdered, Max and his wife spoke in Sacrament Meeting expressing thanks for the many good things in their lives (they were struggling students, but enjoyed a great many spiritual blessings). Even after the murder, his wife, though understandably distraught, was amazingly grounded and continued to express gratitude for the knowledge she'd be with Max again. I suspect Max derived little satisfaction from seeing Gilmore shot.

Gilmore was shot by a firing squad made of up civilian volunteers, of which there were quite a few (imagine that). The marksmen (I think there were six) were provided with ammunition, but one of the bullets was a blank, so all of them would have some doubt whether they had, in fact, shot him. A small cloth target was pinned on Gilmore's shirt right over his heart. Nobody missed.

[pellegrino]

I'm too young to remember when it happened, but the Sinclair station where he murdered his first victim was just down the street from where my family lived at the time. Needless to say, Gilmore was a prominent figure in the scary stories told when I was young. I remember watching the movie with Tommy Lee Jones, for weeks I didn't want to walk by that gas station, even though we always went to the little Pepper Tree Market right next to it to buy candy. I'll have to check out the book sometime.

[SeattleUte]

Nobody missed.

Yet Mark Hoffman remains alive and well.