Those closest to the men killed and wounded by Ronnie Lee Gardner remain sharply divided on whether he should be executed.

But a quarter century of drama and heartache surrounding the looming execution was punctuated Friday when a tearful Gardner clan apologized to the loved ones of his victims sitting on the bench just behind them.

"They said they are very sorry," said Craig Watson, a Sandy police detective who was a lifelong friend of one of the two men Gardner killed. "Those folks are victims also."

Many of those close to Gardner's victims embraced the June 18 execution order signed by 3rd District Judge Robin Reese as justice and closure; others bemoaned it as morally wrong and unjust. Either way, it's been a long time coming.

Gardner, now 49, received a death sentence for the April 2, 1985 fatal shooting of attorney Michael J. Burdell. During that shoot-out at the old Metropolitan Hall of Justice in Salt Lake City, Gardner also shot and severely wounded Bailiff Nicolas G. Kirk.

Gardner had been escorted that day from the Utah State Prison to make a court appearance on charges that he gunned down Melvyn J. Otterstrom, 37, at the Cheers bar October 9, 1984. Gardner was later convicted in that homicide, as well.

Watson said Friday that he was gratified that Gardner will finally be put to death.

"It will bring some closure for his family and me," he said, his voice choked with sadness.

Otterstrom, a Green Beret who was active in the National Guard, was working a second job at Cheers.

"That son of a bitch shot him for no reason," Watson said of the murder. "Melvyn never got to see his son grow up."

Watson said he and Otterstrom's relatives have relived their loved-one's death every time Gardner's case has come up in court over the past 25 years.

"It isn't going to give us anything back," he said of the pending execution. "But it will give us some closure, knowing that some justice is done."

By contrast, Burdell's one-time fiance, Donna Nu, who traveled from Arizona for Friday's hearing, said she was opposed to executing Gardner.

"Knowing Michael, as I did, he would not want Ronnie Lee to be executed," she told the judge. "Further, he would not want to be the reason Ronnie Lee is executed."

She noted that Burdell, who was a pacifist, served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam but refused to carry a gun. Outside the courtroom, Nu tearfully said Burdell would be defending Gardner at Friday's hearing if he had survived.

Burdell's father, Joseph Burdell Jr., who lives in North Carolina, made a similar plea opposing the execution via a video played in court.

"In my opinion, and I think in Mike's opinion, this should not be death," he said of Gardner's sentence. "It was not premeditated, it happened on the spur of the moment."

Burdell's father placed the blame for the incident on the Utah Department of Corrections, which he said did not take proper precautions.

But for ValDean Kirk, 77, the widow of bailiff Nicolas G. Kirk, Gardner's execution will come as a relief.

It was miraculous that Gardner's crimes included two murders rather than three, she explained.

Although unarmed, Kirk confronted Gardner the day of the courthouse shoot-out in an effort to stop him. Gardner shot Kirk in the lower abdomen. The bullet ripped through his small intestine and lacerated his appendix and bowel before lodging near his hip.

It took a year for him to heal, but he was never the same, ValDean Kirk said in an interview. From the day of the shooting forward, her husband was in constant pain and suffered from depression and nightmares.

"It ruined everything for us," she said. "He just wasn't himself after that."

Kirk retired in 1993 and died of a heart attack in December 1995.

"I definitely think Ronnie Lee should get the death penalty," ValDean Kirk said. "I feel sorry for him. I don't hate him the way I used to."

But the Kirks' eldest daughter, Barb Webb, said she has no sympathy for Gardner. His execution will bring long-needed closure for her family, she said.

"It's absolutely disgusting. It should never have taken 25 years" for Gardner to be executed, she said. "It's been a roller coaster for us. My dad never got closure."

Another of Kirk's daughters, Tammi Stewart, has remained angry at Gardner because he has never said that he was sorry. But the apology from Gardner's family Friday means a great deal, she said.

"I think they really mean it," she said. "It makes me feel 100 percent better. It's so sweet."

Reporter Nate Carlisle contributed to this story.