Earl Gardner was an Apache man who grew up on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Gila County, Arizona. His date of birth, his schooling and his family of origin are not on record.
In 1925 Gardner killed another Apache man, Francis Knight. Because the offense fell under federal authority, he was dealt with in the federal courts and received a seven-year federal prison sentence. The court that sentenced him, the exact charge and the month of the verdict are not on record.
Gardner was released from prison in 1933, two years before the events that led to his death sentence.
By 1935 Gardner was married to Alice Dia Gardner, who was 20 years old. They had a son, Edward, who was 28 days old in December 1935.
In early December 1935, on the reservation, Gardner killed his wife and their infant son. This was an event separate from the 1925 killing, ten years earlier.
The deaths occurred on land under federal jurisdiction, so the Federal Bureau of Investigation took part in the inquiry. Gardner was taken into custody on the reservation and held at the Gila County jail in Globe.
At a preliminary hearing on December 20, 1935, Gardner tried to plead guilty and confessed. Judge Albert Sames did not accept the plea. He bound the case over for trial and held Gardner without bond.
The trial opened in federal court at Globe on January 20, 1936. Gardner took the stand, confessed again, and asked the jury to impose the death penalty. After 26 hours the jury could not agree: ten jurors favored a verdict of guilty with a death sentence, and two favored guilty with life imprisonment. Judge Sames ordered a new trial.
At the second proceeding Gardner was convicted of first-degree murder, with no recommendation of mercy, which made the death penalty mandatory. He had told the court that he wished to be executed. He was sentenced to death in February 1936.
Appeals did not change the sentence. A date was set for July 1936. Arizona officials refused a request from the United States Marshals Service to carry out the sentence at the state prison, citing concern about unrest among Native Americans, so the federal government made its own arrangements near Globe.
Gardner was executed in July 1936. In 1937 Congress changed the law so that federal prisoners could be executed in state or local facilities, following the practice of the state concerned. Gardner's was the last execution of its kind in Arizona.
The exact charge and court in the 1925 case are not on record, and the precise days of the December 1935 killings, the sentence and the execution are not on record.
1925: Gardner kills Francis Knight and receives a seven-year federal prison sentence.
1933: Gardner is released from prison.
Early December 1935: Gardner kills his wife, Alice Dia Gardner, and their infant son, Edward, on the San Carlos Apache Reservation.
December 20, 1935: At a preliminary hearing in Globe his plea of guilty is refused and the case is bound over for trial.
January 20, 1936: First trial opens; the jury cannot agree.
February 1936: Convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
July 1936: Executed near Globe, Arizona.
1937: Congress allows federal prisoners to be executed in state or local facilities.