Utah was the last state to carry out an execution of this kind fifteen years ago. According to his attorney, the death row inmate from South Carolina opted for this technique out of fear of lethal injection.
Friday night marked the first execution in the US since 2010 when a condemned killer was put to death by firing squad in the state of South Carolina.
Brad Sigmon, 67, was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m. according to the State Department of Corrections, following a firing squad firing three bullets at the target placed over his heart.
Execution by firing squad, electrocution, or lethal injection were the three options presented to Mr. Sigmon by the court after his 2001 conviction for fatally beating his ex-girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat. According to Gerald King, Mr. Sigmon's lawyer, his client had reservations about the execution procedure in South Carolina and had voluntarily chosen to be shot.
The three journalists who were present during the execution all attest that Mr. Sigmon took a few deep breaths just before the rounds were fired. The Associated Press, The Post and Courier, and WYFF, a local TV station, were among the reporters who saw him after the shooting; they said his arms became rigid and his chest pounded twice.
The execution of Mr. Sigmon stands as the first of its kind in South Carolina prison history. Most Americans support capital punishment, according to polls, but many see the firing squad as a relic of a bygone era of punishment. However, numerous states have lately legalized the use of firing squads as a means of execution because lethal injection drugs are more difficult to procure and have occasionally caused executions to go wrong.
With the exception of three instances in 2010, 1996, and 1977, no state has ever used a firing squad in contemporary times except Utah.
In the death chamber of the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, the capital of the state, Mr. Sigmon was executed. Seated on a metal chair in one corner of the room, fifteen feet away from a wall that had a rectangular opening, he was bound to the chair. Behind that wall was the three-person firing squad, facing Mr. Sigmon through the opening.
Witnesses sat in chairs along one wall of the chamber behind bullet-resistant glass. They could see the prisoner, but not the firing squad’s rifles through the opening.
In a final statement read by his lawyer, Mr. Sigmon said he wanted his message “to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.”
“Nowhere does God in the New Testament give man the authority to kill another man,” he said in the statement.
Mr. Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit and his mouth was covered. He could slightly move his head, witnesses said, and he tilted it toward the witness room before nodding toward Mr. King, his lawyer, and appearing to exchange words with him. Witnesses stated it was not obvious what was said.
A hood was then placed over Mr. Sigmon’s head. Prior to the simultaneous firing of the bullets, there was no countdown.
The Reverend Hillary Taylor, who served as Mr. Sigmon's spiritual advisor, was among the witnesses, along with three relatives of the victims.
Despite requests from Mr. Sigmon's attorneys, the United States Supreme Court declined to examine his case and halt his execution. In addition, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster declined Mr. Sigmon's request for clemency; since the state resumed executions last year, McMaster has never given clemency to a death row inmate.
Shortly before the execution, scores of demonstrators held posters outside the detention facility that said “Thou shalt not kill” and “All life is precious.”
Ms. Taylor noted that Mr. Sigmon had become an acute reader of the Bible and functioned as an informal chaplain to other convicts. She stated that he chose to share his last supper, a large bucket of KFC fried chicken, with his fellow convicts.
Because of a shield law implemented in 2023, little is known about the members of the firing squad. According to a representative with the Department of Corrections, they train every month, year-round. A 2022 news release regarding modifications to the death chamber indicated that the firing squad consisted of department employees who agreed to take part. They fire bullets similar to those used by police weapons.
Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Idaho are three of the states that permit the use of the firing squad as an alternative execution technique, in the event that a drug for lethal injection is not available. A measure to establish the death penalty by firing squad as the principal means of execution was recently approved by the Idaho State Senate.
After passing a bill giving death row inmates the choice between the electric chair and the firing squad, South Carolina legalized the practice in 2021. arguing that these methods violated the State Constitution, inmates sued the state, arguing that they constituted cruel, harsh, or unusual punishments.
Last year, the Republican-dominated South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the legitimacy of both systems, reasoning that inmates had the freedom to select which one they preferred, so neither could be deemed cruel or unusual.
The state's Department of Corrections has carried out four executions since that verdict; three of the victims opted for lethal injection. According to Mr. King, however, Mr. Sigmon's reservations with the protocol in South Carolina regarding the injection of pentobarbital led him to select a firing squad as the method of execution.
In court, Mr. King has contended that the Department of Corrections withheld information about the medication that a person "would want to know to feel confident that they'll work as intended," including its storage conditions, expiration date, and testing procedures. The execution procedure in South Carolina is not available to the public.
Last month, a spokeswoman for the department announced that the government had "sworn to the effectiveness" of the medicine and provided over all relevant information regarding it to the litigation.
A nonprofit director named Lindsey Vann, who represents Richard B. Moore and Marion Bowman Jr., two state prisoners whose lethal injection executions went awry recently, was present during their cases.
The men in both cases did not pass away for over 20 minutes after the treatment started, according to Ms. Vann, and a second dose of pentobarbital was given 10 minutes after the first. (Mr. Moore reneged on his decision to be killed by firing squad when the state obtained the medications for lethal injection.)
In light of Mr. Sigmon's knowledge of the electric chair and his lack of knowledge regarding lethal injection, Mr. King stated that Mr. Sigmon believed that "the firing squad is what is left." According to Mr. King, his customer was experiencing a "mix of fear and frustration."
The decision and execution of this state-sanctioned heinous crime are "abjectly cruel," according to Mr. King's statement.
According to Mr. Sigmon's legal team, their client had a history of brain damage in childhood and an inherited mental disease. They said those things made him more likely to kill David and Gladys Larke, the parents of his ex-girlfriend. Mr. Sigmon attempted to abduct his ex-girlfriend after murdering them.
Ricky Sims, the victims' grandson, informed the Greenville News that Mr. Sigmon needs to be held accountable for his actions. He decried the taking of two individuals who were willing to sacrifice everything for their loved ones.
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