COLOMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina man convicted of double murder in 2002 is due to die Friday.
Without a last-minute resignation from the governor’s office or the U.S. Supreme Court, Bradsigmon’s execution is scheduled for 6pm at Broad River Correctional Facility in Columbia. Sigmon, 67, will become the oldest prisoner executed by the state.
His lawyer, Gerald “Boe” King, demanded tolerance from Gov. Henry McMaster, claiming that Sigmon changed his life in prison, rededicated himself to his Christian faith, and poses no further risk during his imprisonment.
“Brad today is not worthy of today’s execution,” King said Thursday.
McMaster, a Republican, signed a bill in 2021 that required prisoners to legalize shooting squads and choose a fatal injection or a major state enforcement method. His office declined to comment.
Sigmon chose a shooting squad after concerns were raised about the execution of a previous deadly injection in South Carolina. According to an autopsy report cited in court documents filed last month by the defense, it requires twice the dose of pentobarbital, similar to “own death,” and one prisoner resembles “drug.”
State prosecutors replied that Sigmon “waived discussion about the fatal injections” as Sigmon chose to fire the squad and die.
King said Sigmon admitted his guilt and “accepted that he deserved his punishment,” but added that he was “seeking to make this choice about how he would die” with just his basic knowledge of each protocol.
South Carolina resumed executions in September after a 13-year suspension caused by the state’s inability to procure fatal injection drugs. The Shield Act allows authorities to publicly withhold details surrounding the location where the state is currently procuring supply of pentobarbital.
Richard “Dick” Haptrian, a former prosecutor who handled the death penalty case, introduced the sack squad proposal in 2021 when he served in the state legislature.
“I don’t enjoy the idea of ​​someone being shot until they die, but if they die, this is an alternative,” Harpootlian said.
The state has released some details about plans to carry out the execution of the shooting squad. The last one happened in Utah in 2010. This is the only state that has used shooting forces since the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty constitution in 1976.
In South Carolina, three Department of Corrections employees form a volunteer team, officials said. They fire rifles each loaded with live ammunition from behind a wall about 15 feet from the prisoners.
Before the shooting, the inmate is allowed to make a final statement, after which the hood is placed over his head and the target is locked into his mind. Bullet resistant glass separates the running chamber from another room where witnesses are allowed to contain media.
“I don’t know what they did or how they trained to prepare to shoot others from 15 feet away in their minds,” King said. “It’s easier to think of ways that can go wrong than to be sure it will work.”
Deborah de Nono, a professor at Fordham Law School, has studied the death penalty, but said executions by fire are one of the “most inhumane” options compared to other methods, considering whether someone can die after being shot in the heart, compared to lethal injections and other methods that include nitrogen gas.
It has returned to other eras in American history as dismissal squads are more common, such as the colonial period and the Civil War, which were used against escapees.
“Even if (the shooting squad) was used in the first executions of 1608, this never legally adopted a shooting squad in many states,” Denono said, adding that the Idaho bill would make it a major way of implementing it.
Witnesses to the execution of Utah’s last sack squad recently recalled to NBC News that they saw rapid gunshots in the room and that prisoner Ronnie Lee Gardner seemed to turn his arm upside down and move. A spokesperson for the revision department said the agency will provide mental health support to staff participating in the executions.
Sigmon has been found guilty of be-striking by William David Larke, 62-year-old William David Larke, and 59-year-old Glendlyn Larke, the parents of his ex-girlfriend. Prosecutors say Sigmon used a baseball bat to attack the couple at his Greenville County home, then acquitted his ex-girlfriend. Sigmon ran away and was captured in Tennessee after several manhunts.
His defense attorney, who demanded that his execution be stopped, said that the jury at his trial had not been spoken about his history of mental illness, including bipolar disorder, and his “traumatic and abusive childhood.”
The South Carolina Supreme Court previously rejected a request to halt Sigmon’s execution, and did so again on Tuesday.
Abigail Brooks reported from Eric Ortiz of Columbia and New York.
