Gilmore, Gary (1940–1977)

Stephen S. Owen

Gary Gilmore was the first person in the United States to be executed after the U.S. Supreme Court's moratorium on capital punishment was established by Furman v. Georgia (1972) and then lifted in a series of cases highlighted by Gregg v. Georgia (1976). Partly as a result of this, and because of the publication of Norman Mailer's (1979) book The Executioner's Song , Gilmore attained status as a minor celebrity in the public eye. Gilmore was in and out of correctional institutions for much of his life. He was released from a term of imprisonment in April 1976, and in July 1976 he committed two homicides on two consecutive days. The first victim was a gas station attendant in Orem, Utah, and the second was a hotel clerk in Provo, Utah. He shot both victims in the head after robbing them. Gilmore was subsequently arrested and charged. In October 1976, ...

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