Jan. 17, 2026

"LET'S DO IT: GARY GILMORE AND THE THREE WORDS THAT REOPENED AMERICA'S DEATH CHAMBERS"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter marks the 49th anniversary of Gary Gilmore's execution - the firing squad death that ended America's decade-long moratorium on capital punishment. January 17, 1977: Five riflemen, four live rounds, and a convicted killer who demanded the state kill him. Gilmore murdered two young Mormon fathers - Max Jensen, 24, and Bennie Bushnell, 25 - in back-to-back Utah robberies. Both complied. Both died anyway. His last words "Let's do it" later inspired Nike's billion-dollar "Just Do It" slogan. From abusive childhood to federal prison to firing squad - how one man's death wish reopened America's execution chambers.

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Calarogus Shark media. Good morning, I'm reed Carter. Saturday, January seventeenth,

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twenty twenty six, forty nine years ago today, Utah State Prison,

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eight oh seven am. Gary Gilmore sat strapped to a

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wooden chair in a converted cannery, black hood over his face,

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target pinned over his heart. Twenty feet away, behind a

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curtain with five small holes, stood five volunteer police officers

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with point three zero caliber rifles, four loaded with live ammunition,

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one with a blank. No shooter would ever know for

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certain if his bullet killed a man. The warden asked,

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if Gilmore had any last words, Let's do it. Four

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shots fired simultaneously. Gary Mark Gilmore slumped forward dead within

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two minutes, thirty six years old, the first person executed

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in the United States in almost a decade, and he

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demanded it happen. That's the part that made Gary Gilmour

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a household name. Not the murders two young Mormon men

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shot execution style in back to back robberies. Not the

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childhood abuse dysfunction, eighteen years in prison by age thirty five.

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What made America obsessed with Gary Gilmore was his insistence

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that the state of Utah carry out his death sentence.

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While the ACLU filed appeals on his behalf, Gilmore told

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them to butt out. While his mother begged for clemency,

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he published a letter asking her to stop. While protesters

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held vigils outside the prison, Gilmore told the board of

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pardons to stop being cowards and get it over with.

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He wanted to die, and on January seventeenth, nineteen seventy seven,

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Utah obliged. His final words became more than a footnote.

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Eleven years later, an advertising executive in Portland remembered that story.

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A man facing certain death with such defiant confidence changed

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let's do it to just do it. Turned Nike from

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a struggling sneaker company into a global empire. Three words

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from a firing squad, billions of dollars in shoe sales.

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Welcome to America. I'm Red Carter today. Gary Gilmore, the

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man who reopened America's death chambers, the murders that should

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have been prevented, the victims who deserved better, and the

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cultural legacy of a killer's final words. This is celebrity trials.

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Gary Mark Gilmore was born December fourth, nineteen forty in

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McCamey Texas, second of four sons, father Frank Gilmore Senior,

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mother Bessie Brown. The family was a disaster from the start.

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Frank Senior was an alcoholic con man, made his living

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selling fake magazine subscriptions, had multiple wives and families scattered

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across the country, none of whom he supported. When Gary

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was born, the family was hiding from the law under

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the name Kaufman. Frank christened his son Fay Robert Kaufman.

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Once they left Texas, Bessie changed it to Gary Mark.

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Years later, Gary found the original birth certificate, assumed he

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was illegitimate became convinced that's why his father hated him.

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The family moved constantly throughout the American West, always a

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step ahead of creditors and authorities. Frank was strict and

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quick to anger. Would whip his sons with a razor, strop,

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a belt, whatever was handy, for little or no reason.

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Sometimes he beat Bessie too. The boys never knew when

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the violence would come or why. Gary's youngest brother, Micall,

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later described their father as a cruel and unreasonable man.

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Gary internalized that lesson if punishment came randomly, if beatings

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arrived without cause, then the world was harsh and arbitrary.

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Nothing made sense, rules were meaningless. Authority was just power

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exercised without reason. By nineteen forty eight, the family had

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settled in Portland, Oregon. Gary was eight years old, already drinking,

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already getting into trouble. According to statements he later made

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to psychologists, he developed a need for bravado, staring down,

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approaching trains until near impact, sticking wet fingers into electrical outlets,

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proving he couldn't be scared. At fourteen, Gary dropped out

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of school. By fifteen, he was running a car theft ring.

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First arrest, his father hired a lawyer, got him off,

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taught him that the legal system could be manipulated. Two

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weeks later, Gary was back in court on another car

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theft charge. This time no lawyer could save him. The

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court sent him to McLaren Reform School for Boys in Woodburn, Oregon.

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He was fifteen years old. His criminal career had officially begun.

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Released after a year, Gary bounced between jail and brief

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periods of freedom. Car theft charge at eighteen landed him

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in Oregon State Correctional Institution. More charges piled up, more

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sentences extended. Then in nineteen sixty two, while Gary was

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locked up in Rocky Butte Jail in Portland, his father

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died lung cancer. Gary wasn't allowed to attend the funeral.

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When a guard told him the news, Gary went wild,

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tore apart his cell, slashed his wrists with a broken

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light bulb, attempted suicide. Despite everything, the beatings, the abuse,

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the dysfunction, Gary was devastated. Whatever chance at reconciliation might

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have existed was gone forever. He was twenty one years old,

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already had spent years behind bars, and now the father

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who had shaped him through violence was dead. Gary's behavior

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after that deteriorated rapidly, assault, armed, robbery. More years added

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to his sentence. Oregon classified him as an habitual offender,

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gave him fifteen years at the state penitentiary. While incarcerated,

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his brother, Galen, third of the four boys, was stabbed

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in the stomach during an unrelated incident. No money for

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medical care, Galen died. Gary was allowed to attend this funeral,

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but losing another family member only made things worse. Here's

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the thing about Gary Gilmore that complicates the narrative. He

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was intelligent, IQ of one hundred thirty three high scores

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on academic tests, artistic talent that won prison competitions. During

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endless stretches in solitary confinement, he educated himself, read literature,

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wrote poetry, developed genuine skill as a visual artist. In

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nineteen seventy two, that talent earned him conditional release. He

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could live in a halfway house in Eugene, Oregon, attend

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art school at the local community college. A chance at rehabilitation,

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a chance at a normal life. He never registered for classes.

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Within a month, he'd committed armed robbery. Back to prison.

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Gary gilmore Or wasn't stupid. He was intelligent enough to

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understand consequences, skilled enough to have pursued legitimate success. But

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something was broken inside him. Prison psychiatrists diagnosed antisocial personality

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disorder with intermittent psychotic decompensation. In plain language, he couldn't

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function in society, couldn't follow rules, couldn't control impulses, and

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periodically he'd have episodes that looked like psychosis. Because of

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his violent behavior, Oregon transferred him to the federal prison

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in Maryon, Illinois Maximum Security, one of the toughest facilities

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in the country. Gary spent years there, drugged on antipsychotics

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to control his outbursts. His mother had to intervene to

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get him off the medication. By April nineteen seventy six,

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Gary Gilmour was thirty five years old. He'd spent more

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than half his life in prison, eighteen years behind bars,

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interrupted by brief stretches of chaotic freedom. Now somehow he

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was being released, conditionally paroled into the custody of his cousin,

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Brenda Nicole in Provo, Utah. Brenda believed Gary just needed support,

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moral guidance, a fresh start in a place far from Portland,

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far from his criminal history. She found him a job

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at her father, Verne Damaco's shoe repair shop, later got

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him work at an insulation company. For a few weeks.

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It almost worked. Gary had a place to stay, had employment,

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was meeting people, seemed to be adjusting. Then he met

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Nicole Baker Barrett, nineteen years old, twice married, once widowed,

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mother of two young children, and everything fell apart. Their

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relationship was intense from the start. Gary moved in quickly,

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but he couldn't escape himself. The drinking resumed, the petty thefts,

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the aggressive behavior, the violent outbursts. Nicole's family saw what

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was happening, begged her to leave him. She did, broke

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up with him after just a few months together, and

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Gary Gilmore, thirty five years old, half his life spent

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in prison, snapped. Make it make sense, an intelligent man

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with artistic talent, given multiple chances at rehabilitation, throws it

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all away because a teenage girl dumps him. But that's

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the reality. Gary Gilmore wasn't capable of handling rejection, wasn't

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capable of processing loss, had never developed the emotional tools

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that most people acquire in childhood. So when Nicole left him,

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he did the only thing he knew how to do.

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He lashed out, and two innocent men paid with their lives.

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July nineteenth, nineteen seventy six, Aorum, Utah summer evening. Max

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David Jensen twenty four years old, Brigham young, university law student,

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graduated cum laudy from Utah State, married to Colleen, father

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of an eleven month old daughter. That afternoon, Max and

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Colleen had spoken at a Latter Day Saints gathering. The

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topic was honesty, the challenge of being honest in a

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complicated world. Max finished the presentation, kissed his wife and

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daughter goodbye, and went to work the late shift at

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a Sinclair gas station. He'd lost a coin flip with

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the assistant manager. That's why he was working that night.

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Random chance heads are tails. Max called tails. The coin

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landed on heads, so Max Jensen drove to the station

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on one hundred sixty eight East and eight hundred North

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in Oreum started his shift, pumped gas, made small talk

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with customers. Normal night. Around ten thirty pm, Gary Gilmore

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walked in. He'd been drinking. He'd been spiraling since Nicole left.

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He'd bought an expensive pickup truck he couldn't afford. Now

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he needed money, needed to prove something, needed to feel powerful.

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Gilmore pulled out a stolen point two to two caliber

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automatic pistol. Demanded money. Max complied, emptied his pockets, gave

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him everything. It wasn't enough. Gilmore ordered Max to the bathroom,

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made him lie face down on the floor. Max didn't resist,

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did everything he was told. Maybe if he cooperated, the

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man with the gun would leave. This one is for me,

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Gilmore said, then fired into the back of Max Jensen's head.

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This one is for Nicole. A second shot. Max Jensen,

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twenty four years old, was dead. Gilmore took the cash,

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left the station, didn't bother emptying the register. The money

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almost didn't matter. This was about rage, about punishment, about

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making someone else suffer because Gary Gilmore was suffering. The

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next night, July twentieth, provo Utah, Gilmore's pickup truck was

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having problems. He dropped it at a garage for repairs.

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While waiting, he walked to the City Center Motel at

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one hundred and fifty West and three hundred South. Benny

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Bushnell twenty five years old, night manager, also student at

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Brigham Young University, married to Debbie, father of one son.

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His wife was pregnant with their second child. Gilmore walked

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into the registration office, pulled out the same point two

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two pistol, demanded the cash box. Benny complied, gave him

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the money, did everything right. Gilmore ordered him to lie

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on the floor, shot him twice in the head. Debbie

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Bushnell heard the shots, came to investigate, saw a man

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fleeing with the cash box, saw her husband on the

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floor dead. Here's what makes these murders particularly senseless. Both

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victims cooperated. Both gave Gilmore what he wanted, Neither resisted,

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neither threatened him. They followed every instruction, hoping compliance would

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save their lives. It didn't matter. Gary Gilmore wasn't robbing

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them for money. He was executing them for being happy,

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for having lives he couldn't have, for representing everything that

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had been denied to him. After shooting Benny Bushnell, Gilmore

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tried to dispose of the gun. Threw it into some bushes,

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but he was careless. While disposing of the weapon, he

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accidentally shot himself in the hand. Michael Simpson, the garage

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mechanic working on Gilmore's truck, heard about the motel shooting

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on his police scanner. When Gilmore came back for his vehicle,

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Simpson noticed the bloody bandage on his right hand. Noticed

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Gilmore was agitated, wrote down the license plate number. Called police. Meanwhile,

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Gilmore called his cousin, Brenda, the same cousin who'd helped

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him get paroled, who'd found him jobs, who'd believed he

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could change. He asked her for bandages and painkillers. Didn't

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explain why Brenda knew something was wrong. Called the police.

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Utah State Police apprehended Gilmore as he tried to drive

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out of Provo. He gave up without a fight. The

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gun was recovered from the bushes. Ballistics matched the bullets

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that killed both men. Gary Gilmore, thirty five years old,

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half his life spent in prison, had murdered two young

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fathers in two nights for a few hundred dollars because

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he was angry at a teenage girl who dumped him.

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And now he faced the death penalty in a state

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that still offered firing squad as an execution method. Max

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Jensen should be seventy four years old today. Should have

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graduated law school. Should have practiced law for decades. Should

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have watched his daughter grow up, get married, have children

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of his own. Instead, he's been dead for forty nine

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years because he lost a coin flip and worked the

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wrong shift. Benny Bushnell should be seventy five years old today.

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Should have met his second child, should have raised a family,

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should have grown old with his wife Debbie. Instead, he's

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been dead for forty nine years because a stranger walked

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into his motel lobby. Someone has to say their names.

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Max Jensen Bennie Bushnell twenty four and twenty five years old,

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law students at BYU, Mormon fathers with infant children. Both

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complied with every demand. Both died anyway, Rest in peace, Max,

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Rest in peace, Benny. We'll be right back with Gary

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Gilmore's trial, his demand to be executed, and the three

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words that became a billion dollar slogan. October fifth, nineteen

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seventy six, Provo Courthouse. Gary Gilmore's murder trial began just

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eleven weeks after the killings. The case was straightforward. Eyewitness

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testimony placed Gilmore at the City Center motel. Ballistics matched

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the murder weapon to the gun found in the bushes.

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A police officer traced Gilmore's blood trail from the motel

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to that same bush The evidence was overwhelming. Gilmore was

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only tried for Benny Bushnell's murder. That case had eyewitnesses.

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He later admitted to killing Max Jensen, but was never

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formally charged because no one saw it happen. The trial

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lasted two days. His court appointed lawyers, Michael Esplin and

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Craig Snyder barely cross examined prosecution witnesses called no defense

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witnesses made little effort to fight the charges. Why because

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Gary Gilmore told them not to. Four psychiatrists examined Gilmore.

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All agreed he was aware of what he was doing

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when he killed those men. He knew it was wrong.

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He had antisocial personality disorder, possibly aggravated by drinking in drugs,

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but he didn't meet the legal criteria for insanity. Gilmore

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briefly considered taking the stand, arguing some kind of dissociative defense,

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then withdrew the request. He wanted this over. October seventh,

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ten thirteen am, the jury retired to deliberate. By midday,

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they returned with a verdict guilty of first degree murder.

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Same day, the jury recommended death special circumstances murder committed

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during armed robbery. Under Utah law, Gilmore could choose his

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method of execution, hanging or firing squad. Judge J. Robert

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Bullock asked for his preference. I'd prefer to be shot.

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Utah was the only state still offering death by firing squad.

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The method traced back to Mormon doctrine blood atonement, the

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belief that certain sins require the shedding of blood to

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achieve salvation. Execution dates set for November fifteenth, nineteen seventy six,

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five weeks away. Then things got complicated. Utah had disassembled

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its gallows years earlier, had no proper facility for firing

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squad executions needed time to prepare, the execution was delayed. Meanwhile,

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anti death penalty groups mobilized. The Supreme Court had just

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reinstated capital punishment in July, with greg versus Georgia, overturning

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a nineteen seventy two ruling that had declared existing death

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penalty statutes unconstitutional. Gary Gilmour would be the first person

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executed under the new laws. If advocates could stop his execution,

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they might slow the resumption of capital punishment nationwide. The

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ACLU filed appeals on Gilmore's behalf against his wishes without

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his consent. Gilmore was furious. He didn't want to be saved.

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He'd accepted the sentence was ready to die, believe death

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was preferable to spending more decades in prison. November nineteen

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seventy six Board of Pardons hearing, Gilmore addressed the advocacy

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groups directly. They always want to get in on the act.

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I don't think they have ever really done anything effective

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in their lives. I would like them all, including that

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group of reverends and rabbis from Salt Lake City, to

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butt out, this is my life and this is my death.

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It's been sanctioned. By the courts that I die, and

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I accept that. He told the board, it seems like

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the people, especially the people of Utah, want the death

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penalty and they don't want executions. And when it became

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a reality that they might have to carry one out, well,

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they started backing off on it, while I took them

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literal and serious when they sentenced me to death. Make

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it make sense. A convicted double murderer wanted to die.

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The state had sentenced him to death, but lawyers who'd

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never met him kept filing appeals to save his life

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against his express wishes. Gilmore saw the hypocrisy. Utah wanted

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the death penalty as an abstraction, as a deterrent on

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the books. When it came to actually killing someone, suddenly

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everyone got squeamish. November sixteenth, nineteen seventy six, first stay

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of execution issued. Gilmore responded by attempting suicide, took an

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overdose of sleeping pills. He survived, recovered, The execution was rescheduled.

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Then his girlfriend, Nicole Baker, the same Nicole whose departure

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triggered his murder spree, joined him in a suicide pact.

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She'd been visiting him in prison they'd exchanged love letters,

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planned to die together. Both took overdoses. Both survived. Nicole

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wasdmitted to the state mental hospital. December sixteenth, Gilmore attempted

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suicide again more pills, survived again. His mother, Bessie, filed

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an appeal to the US Supreme Court, begging for a

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stay of execution. Her own son published a letter in

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the newspaper asking her to stop interfering. December thirteenth, the

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Supreme Court ruled the execution could proceed. Execution rescheduled for

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January seventeenth, nineteen seventy seven. National and international media descended

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on Utah. Protesters held vigils outside the prison. The ACLU

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made one final attempt to block the execution. That stay

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was issued just hours before the scheduled time, then overturned

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at seven thirty am, the execution would proceed. Gary Gilmour

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ate his last meal the night before, steak, potatoes, milk,

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and coffee, only consumed the milk and coffee. His uncle,

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Verne Demko, who attended the gathering, later admitted to smuggling

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in three small bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey. Gilmore drank them.

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Then they took him to the converted cannery behind the

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prison strapped him into a wooden chair, wall of sandbags

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behind him to catch the bullets. Five riflemen behind a curtain,

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aiming through small holes. Four live rounds, one blank. The

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warden asked for last words, Let's do it. The prison

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physician placed a black hood over Gilmore's head. A doctor

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pinned a paper target over his heart. Gilmore's final words

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to the Catholic prison chaplain Dominus vobiscum Latin, the Lord

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be with you. Eight o seven a m. January seventeenth,

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nineteen seventy seven. Four bullets struck Gary Gilmore's chest. He

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slumped forward, pronounced dead within two minutes. The first American

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executed in almost ten years, the man who demanded his

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own death, the killer who reopened America's execution chambers. And

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despite everything, despite his crimes, and his demands and his defiance,

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you can't help wondering was this justice? Or was this

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a broken man finally getting what he'd wanted since childhood,

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an end to the pain, the dysfunction, the violence that

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had defined his entire existence. Gary Gilmore didn't fear death.

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He feared life, feared another eighteen years in prison, feared

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existing in a world where he couldn't function, couldn't connect,

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couldn't be anything other than what his father's abuse had

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made him. That doesn't excuse the murders. Max Jensen and

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Benny Bushnell didn't deserve to die because Gary Gilmore was broken.

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Their families didn't deserve decades of grief because a violent

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man couldn't process rejection. But it complicates the narrative. Gary

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Gilmore wasn't a monster born evil. He was made by

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an abusive father, by a chaotic childhood, by a prison

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system that warehoused him instead of rehabilitating him, by a

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society that released him repeatedly without giving him the tools

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to survive. Your tax dollars at work. Gary Gilmour's death

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should have been the end of the story. Instead, it

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was just the beginning. Norman Mahler spent two years researching

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Gilmore's life, conducted over two hundred interviews, reviewed court transcripts,

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prison records, personal letters. In nineteen seventy nine, he published

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The Executioner's Song, over one thousand pages, a non fiction

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novel reconstructing everything Gilmour's childhood, his crimes, his relationship with Nicole,

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his trial, his execution. The book won the Pulitzer Prize

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for Fiction in nineteen eighty Critics praised its objective, immersive reconstruction,

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no moralizing, just facts presented with devastating clarity. In nineteen

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eighty two, NBC adapted it into a television movie. Tommy

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Lee Jones played Gary Gilmour, won an Emmy for his performance.

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Rosanna Arquette played Nicole Baker. Then came Gary's younger brother,

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Mikail Gilmour, music journalist writer for Rolling Stone. He spent

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years researching their family history. Published Shot in the Heart

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in nineteen ninety four, a memoir tracing the dysfunction back generations,

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abusive Mormon patriarchs, family secrets, inherited violence. The New York

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Times called it remarkable, astonishing, like a combination of the

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Brothers Karamazov and a series of Johnny cash ballads. Won

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the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, won the National Book

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Critics Circle Award, made into an HBO film in two

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thousand and one. A murderer and his family became the

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subject of two Pulitzer Prize winning or nominated books, multiple

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films endless analysis, but the strangest legacy came eleven years

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after the execution Portland, Oregon, Dan Whedon, co founder of

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the advertising agency Weeden plus Kennedy, was trying to develop

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a campaign for Nike. The company held just eighteen percent

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of the US sportswear market. Struggling against Reebok needed something memorable.

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Wheden had created several different commercials, different tones, different approaches.

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The night before presenting to Nike, he realized they needed

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a tagline to tie everything together. He stayed up late,

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wrote four or five ideas, kept coming back to one phrase,

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and the reason was Gary Gilmore. I was recalling a

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man in Portland. Wheden later explained. He grew up in

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Portland and ran around doing criminal acts in the country

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and was in Utah where he murdered a man and

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a woman and was put before a firing squad. They

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asked him if he had any final thoughts, and he said,

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let's do it. Whedon was struck by the defiance, the confidence,

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a man facing sir and death, pushing through that uncertainty

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with three simple words. I didn't like let's do it,

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Weeden said, so I just changed it to just do it.

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He showed it to colleagues. They said they didn't need it.

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He presented to Nike co founder Phil Knight, said they

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didn't need it. Wheden insisted, just trust me on this one.

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They trusted him. The first Just Do It commercial featured

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eighty year old runner Walt Stack, who ran seventeen miles

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every morning. The slogan appeared at the end, simple, memorable, Universal.

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Within ten years, Nike's market share had grown from eighteen

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percent to forty three percent. Global sales exceeded nine billion dollars.

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Just Do It became one of the most recognizable slogans

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in advertising history. Campaign magazine called it arguably the best

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tagline of the twentieth century. Said it cut across age

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and class barriers, linked Nike with success, and made consumers

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believe they could be successful too, just by wearing its products.

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Three words from a firing squad transformed slightly became a

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global phenomenon. Here's the dark irony. Gary Gilmore, who spent

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his life failing at everything, whose greatest achievements were two

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senseless murders and demanding his own execution, accidentally created more

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cultural value dead than he ever could have alive. His

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