South Carolina will enact the death penalty by firing squad for the first time in the state’s history when Brad Sigmon faces a firing squad on March 7.
The state now allows death row inmates to choose their method of execution, so this was how Sigmon chose to die. He was found guilty of beating David and Gladys Larke to death in 2001 after their daughter rejected him.
Since 1985, South Carolina has executed six prisoners by lethal injection and electrocution. As this is the first time the state will use a firing squad, preparations have been meticulous.
Three unnamed volunteers will carry out the execution. According to the Associated Press, the riflemen will fire from 15 feet away from behind a concealed wall. Their identities will be protected. All weapons will be loaded with live ammunition, and the condemned will have a target placed over his heart to ensure a fatal shot.
In Freddie Eugene Owens, Brad Keith Sigmon, Gary DuBose Terry, and Richard Bernard Moore v. Bryan P. Stirling, director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, experts testified that the method does not constitute “cruel or unusual punishment,” as the pain would last no longer than 10 seconds.
The appeal stated that the heart will “immediately stop… beating” and that the person would lose consciousness “so quick that they would not experience pain at all.”
The state’s expert, Dr. Jorge Alvarez, testified that a person shot in the heart would be unconscious “in less than 10 seconds.”
Over the years, many have advocated for abolishing the death penalty, and this particular method appears extreme to some. But Sigmon and four other inmates actively pushed for the option of execution by firing squad. South Carolina courts initially rejected the petition, but the decision was successfully appealed in 2022.
Sigmon’s execution is scheduled March 7 at 6 p.m., barring an intervention from the governor.
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