Scotty Gardner, who is currently on death row in Arkansas, murdered his girlfriend Heather Stubbs in 2016 before taking her belongings and going gambling with friends. Gardner had been staying with Stubbs in a Conway motel when the two got into a heated argument. According to court records, she pushed him, and in response he threw her onto the bed and first tried to choke her with his hands. When she fought back, he grabbed a curling iron, wrapped the cord around her neck, and strangled her to death.
After killing her, Gardner stole $240 in cash and two cell phones before driving to Hot Springs and later into Oklahoma, where he met up with two friends and went to a casino. Meanwhile, a motel clerk discovered Heather’s body lying face down in the room. Gardner returned the next morning, but police quickly arrested him. He confessed to the crime and was convicted of capital murder in 2018, receiving the death penalty.
Since then, Gardner has been serving his sentence on death row. Recently, he made headlines for demanding that Arkansas carry out his execution. In a handwritten note to the state’s Supreme Court, he wrote bluntly: “Set a date and let’s do it.” He told USA Today that he sees no point in spending decades locked in a small cell, saying, “Why die of old age in a one-man cave 20 years from now when I can be forthcoming and say, hey, let’s do this?”
He has described life on death row as miserable, complaining about his cell being infested with bugs, toilets frequently overflowing, and black mold spreading inside. He said his living space feels like a “walk-in closet” with barely enough room to move.
This isn’t the first time Gardner has asked to be executed. In 2020, he even suggested he would accept the electric chair or a firing squad if it meant his sentence could be carried out. However, no execution has taken place in Arkansas since 2017.
His request is currently stalled because of a lawsuit filed by other death row inmates challenging the state’s newly approved execution method — nitrogen hypoxia, a procedure that only became legal in Arkansas this August. Until that case is resolved, Gardner’s plea to move forward with his execution remains on hold.
