Ronnie Lee Gardner, a convicted murderer, made history at midnight last night by being the first person in 14 years to be executed by firing squad in the US. He specifically requested the form of execution, which garnered the case some last-minute national attention.

Then there was a series of Twitter updates from Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff:

...which sparked some controversy about whether live-tweeting an execution is really the best use of an attorney general's time.

Shurtleff defended his decision this afternoon... with another tweet.