Opinion ID: 2511886
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the murder of michael burdell

Text: ¶ 4 Mr. Gardner has been sentenced to death for the murder of Michael Burdell, an attorney Mr. Gardner shot and killed while attempting to escape from prison custody at a Salt Lake City courthouse. On April 2, 1985, Mr. Gardner was transported from the maximum security unit at the Utah State Prison to the Metropolitan Hall of Justice in Salt Lake City. Scheduled to appear in court to face charges for second degree murder, Mr. Gardner instead attempted to carry out a plan to escape from custody. As he entered the courthouse basement with his guards, a female accomplice handed Mr. Gardner a gun, which he turned on the guards. Mr. Gardner and the guards exchanged gunfire and Mr. Gardner was shot in the chest and lung. [3] The guards retreated to the parking lot, and Mr. Gardner entered the archives room, looking for a way out of the building. A court clerk, a prison officer, and three attorneys were also in the archives room. Mr. Gardner said he had been shot and hit bad and went back into the lobby. When he left, two of the attorneys, Mr. Burdell and Robert Macri, attempted to hide behind the open door to the archives room. But Mr. Gardner reentered the archives room and noticed the attorneys behind the door. Mr. Gardner walked to within one-and-a-half to two feet of them, pointed the gun at Mr. Macri and cocked the hammer. Mr. Burdell exclaimed, Oh, my God! Mr. Gardner said, Oh Fu, turned the gun to Mr. Burdell, and after what one witness described as a definite pause, fatally shot Mr. Burdell in the head. Mr. Gardner then shot Mr. Burdell a second time. ¶ 5 Mr. Gardner then forced the prison officer in the archives room to accompany him up the stairs to the second-floor lobby. As Mr. Gardner crossed the lobby, a uniformed bailiff was coming downstairs to investigate the commotion. Mr. Gardner shot and seriously wounded the bailiff and then proceeded up the stairs. On the next floor, Mr. Gardner took hostage a vending machine serviceman and forced the serviceman to accompany him outside the building. As Mr. Gardner exited the courthouse, the serviceman broke free and dived through a court service teller's window back inside the building. Once outside, Mr. Gardner, wounded, still shackled, and surrounded by police, threw down his gun and surrendered.