Barton Kay Kirkham (November 29, 1936 – June 7, 1958) was a member of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

who was discharged in 1955 after committing a

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

while

absent without leave Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which a ...

(AWOL). In 1956, he was sentenced to death after the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

of two grocery store clerks during an armed

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. Kirkham chose to die by

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

to generate publicity and become an inconvenience to the state of

. Though an attempt was made to appeal his conviction by questioning his sanity, prison officials noted that Kirkham's defiant attitude remained remorseless until shortly before his execution, at which point he started crying and is reported to have wet himself. His hanging at

Utah State Prison Utah State Prison (USP) was one of two prisons managed by the Utah Department of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations. It was located in Draper, Utah, United States, about southwest of Salt Lake City.Utah Department of Correct ...

in 1958 was the first to be carried out by the state in 46 years. Kirkham is the last prisoner to be hanged by the state of Utah.

Background

Barton Kay Kirkham was the eldest of five children raised by a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

family in

. He was a fan of bop music and described himself as "a rebel." Kirkham left his family's church life and school in the 11th grade and joined the

. After 18 months, he committed a

while

, and was given an undesirable discharge from the service. Kirkham spent the next 9 months in a

reformatory A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concerns ...

and was

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

d in July 1956.

Murders

On the night of August 12, 1956, Kirkham entered the Nibley Park Market grocery store in Salt Lake City to rob it. When he thought 50-year-old storekeeper David Avon Frame was not giving him all of the money that he had, Kirkham took Frame to the back of the store. There he found 37-year-old Ruth Holmes Webster, mother of four children in

Sandy, Utah Sandy is a city in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, located in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. The population of Sandy was 87,461 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth-largest city in Utah. The population is currently estimated ...

. Kirkham had them kneel on the floor and shot them in the head. He netted $54 from the robbery. Kirkham was apprehended the next morning after he forced a brother and sister to take him on a joyride through

Provo Canyon Provo Canyon is located in unincorporated Utah County and Wasatch County, Utah. Provo Canyon runs between Mount Timpanogos on the north and Mount Cascade on the south. The canyon extends from Orem on the west end to Heber City on the east. Provo ...

. When later asked about his motive for killing Frame and Webster, he said, "Man, I don't know..."

Trial and sentencing

The first-degree murder trial commenced on December 12, 1956, with Judge Martin M. Larson presiding over the case. Kirkham was defended by attorneys Lamar C. Duncan and Wayne L. Black. On December 14, Kirkham was found guilty of murdering Frame, without a recommendation for mercy, and faced a mandatory death sentence. He was never tried for the murder of Webster. Kirkham was remanded to

on January 11, 1957, as the sentencing phase of the trial proceeded. Kirkham's attorneys immediately filed an appeal with the

Utah Supreme Court The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, United States. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, ...

. The appeal claimed that their client's mental state was not properly taken into account. On March 25, 1958, the court upheld Kirkham's conviction and denied his request for a rehearing, sending his case back for sentencing. Kirkham said he was certain he would be executed and resented his attorneys' "trying to prolong the waiting and stalling around." On April 26, 1958, Judge Larson sentenced Kirkham to death. When asked to select between the option of

execution by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

and

, he responded: "What costs most?" Kirkham said he chose to be hanged "because of the publicity... the novelty... to put the state to more inconvenience." He also noted that the state might not execute him in that manner, and he might therefore get off "scot free". It would be the first hanging in

since 1912. Kirkham said that he hoped "to set some sort of record."

Incarceration

While on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

, Kirkham followed newspaper articles and legal briefs of his case and read psychiatric texts and medical journals. Warden Marcell Graham described him as a good prisoner who caused little trouble. Kirkham grew out his hair and beard for 13 months until ordered to get a haircut. He then shaved himself bald to annoy the prison officials. Kirkham maintained a hardened image and reportedly laughed off concepts of mercy or religious

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

. He claimed to have no regret over the killings. On June 4, 1958, Kirkham appeared before the state

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

s board for a final hearing for clemency. His attorneys had planned to demonstrate that he was insane with the help of psychiatrists. Kirkham initially told the board that he was a loner and felt "no remorse or anything like that." In the final minutes of the hearing, he broke out into an appeal that he would prefer

involuntary commitment Involuntary commitment, civil commitment, or involuntary hospitalization/hospitalisation is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified agent to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is detained in a psychiatric hos ...

in a

mental institution Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

over capital punishment. The board declined to commute his sentence.

Execution

Kirkham was visited by his parents the night before his hanging. Prison guards noted that he changed his demeanor as he received his parents warmly and was seen by

and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

chaplains. His mother was near collapse. Kirkham watched a movie with his parents and said farewell shortly before midnight. Kirkham ordered a

last meal A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be. Contemporary restrictions in the United States In the United States, most states gi ...

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

and

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

, telling the prison steward that "you get cheese, meat and everything in one meal. Not so much fuss." In the auditorium of Utah State Prison, Kirkham ate his pizza and played classical music on a piano in the company of the chaplains, news reporters and deputy sheriffs. He joked about his impending execution and commented on his keyboard skills: "I'll just have to practice more." At dawn on June 7, 1958, Kirkham was driven two miles to a pasture on the prison's farm. After a black hood was placed over his head, Kirkham was led up a ramp to a newly built

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

. His drop had been measured at 6 feet to accommodate his reported weight of 200 pounds. A professional hangman from the

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

was paid $400 () for his services. Kirkham trembled slightly as the hangman fitted a

noose A noose is a loop at the end of a rope in which the knot tightens under load and can be loosened without untying the knot. The knot can be used to secure a rope to a post, pole, or animal but only where the end is in a position that the loop can ...

around his neck and placed the

knot A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ' ...

under his left ear. As directed by state law, Sheriff George Beckstead walked up to Kirkham to receive his

last words Last words are the final utterances before death. The meaning is sometimes expanded to somewhat earlier utterances. Last words of famous or infamous people are sometimes recorded (although not always accurately) which became a historical and liter ...

. At 4:57 a.m.

MST The Master of Studies or Master in Studies (M.St. or MSt; ) is a postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, University of Dublin and the University of Ne ...

, the official time of

dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

, Beckstead signaled the hangman, who pulled an iron lever opening the trap door under Kirkham. The Kirkham family did not come to witness the execution. Prison physician W. C. Knott climbed on a stepladder to examine Kirkham's hanging body, which was concealed from view by burlap and canvas hung under the 11-foot-high platform. He was pronounced dead at 5:11 AM. In February 1980, the

Utah State Legislature The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term li ...

replaced the option of hanging with

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

References

External links

''State of Utah vs. Barton Kay Kirkham''
–

(January 6, 1958) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkham, Barton Kay 1936 births 1958 deaths 20th-century executions by Utah Latter Day Saints from Utah American people convicted of murder American robbers Executed people from Utah People convicted of murder by Utah People executed by Utah by hanging American people executed for murder Military personnel from Salt Lake City 20th-century executions of American people 1956 murders in the United States