What were Gary Gilmore's final words before his execution in 1977?
Gary Gilmore replied, "Let's do it." The Rev. Thomas Meersman, the Roman Catholic prison chaplain, administered the last rites to Gilmore. After the prison physician cloaked him in a black hood, Gilmore uttered his last words to Meersman: ""Dominus vobiscum"" (Latin, translation: "The Lord be with you.") Meersman replied, ""Et cum spiritu tuo"" ("And with your spirit.") In Utah, firing squads consisted of five volunteer law enforcement officers from the county in which the conviction of the offender took place. The five executioners were equipped with .30-30-caliber rifles and off-the-shelf Winchester 150-grain (9.7 g) SilverTip ammunition. The condemned was restrained and hooded,
Gary Gilmore and therefore unconstitutional. (The Supreme Court had previously ordered all states to commute death sentences to life imprisonment after "Furman v. Georgia".) Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in 1977. His life and execution were the subject of the 1979 nonfiction novel "The Executioner's Song" by Norman Mailer, and 1982 TV film of the novel starring Tommy Lee Jones as Gilmore. Gary Mark Gilmore was born in McCamey, Texas, on December 4, 1940, the second of four sons, to Frank and Bessie Gilmore. The other sons were Frank, Jr., Gaylen, and the writer and music journalist Mikal Gilmore. Frank