Executioner's Song, The - Norman Mailer [199]
THE COURT Mr. Esplin, do you care to make any comments?
MR. ESPLIN I think Mr. Snyder has accurately portrayed my feelings.
Now, Judge Bullock asked the defendant if there was anything he would like to say to the Jury. It would be his last opportunity to speak of repentance.
Gilmore replied, "Well, I am finally glad to see that the Jury is looking at me." When this remark was received in silence, he added, "No, I have nothing to say."
"Is that all?" the Judge asked.
"That's all."
Now that the Mitigation Hearing was over and the Jury had gone to the jury room, Vern and Ida went outside and milled around the courthouse with other people waiting for the verdict. They had not planned to be in Court at all, but Gary had called Ida days ago and asked her to be there, and after that, nothing could have kept them
Inside the courtroom, Mike Esplin arranged with the guards for Nicole to be able to sit near Gary. That way, he was able to talk to her across the railing. While they waited, they joked. They even held hands. It impressed Mike Esplin. The fellow was waiting to find out whether he was going to be executed or not, yet he was acting like a cavalier.
Craig Snyder got curious what Gary and Nicole might be talking about, and got near enough to hear Nicole say, "My mother wants you to paint her a picture." "Oh," said Gary, "I didn't think your mother really liked me." "Well," replied Nicole, "she doesn't. She just wants it so she can say, 'Gary Gilmore painted that picture.' " Gary laughed. Craig couldn't get over it. To have Nicole near seemed more important to Gary than anything in the trial. He looked so happy.
A little later, he wanted to go to the bathroom, and so the two guards got up with him, and they filed off slowly, Gary in lockstep, the shackles keeping his feet from moving quickly. Brenda came up.
"Gary," she said, "don't be such a sore-ass. Just because I turned you in, and testified against you, is no reason to be mad, is it?" He arched his neck and looked down at her. It was awful to see him chained.
She reached out and touched his handcuffs tenderly, but he pulled his hand back, and gave her a look that ate at her for a long time and never stopped bothering her.
For weeks to come, she would be standing at the sink doing the dishes, and she would start to cry. Johnny would walk over and put his arm around her and say, Honey, try not to think about it so much.
All she could see was Gary behind bars again, deeper than he'd ever been.
Word came that the verdict was ready, and they all returned to the courtroom. The Jury walked in. The Bailiff read the verdict. It was Death. The Jury was polled. In turn, each one of the twelve said: Yes, and Gary looked across at Vern and Ida and shrugged. When the Judge asked him, "Do you have an election as to the mode of death?"
Gary said, "I prefer to be shot."
Then Judge Bullock replied, "Very well, that will be the order."
The sentence was set for Monday, November 15, at eight o'clock in the morning of this year, and Gary Gilmore would be remanded to the Sheriff of Utah County for delivery to the Warden of Utah State Prison.
The news lived in the air of the courtroom. It was as if there had been one kind of existence in the room, and now there was another: a man was going to be executed. It was real but