South Carolina Executions are Halted Until a Firing Squad is Formed
South Carolina’s Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked two planned electrocutions, saying the inmates cannot be executed until they have a choice of either the firing squad or electrocution.
Corrections officials temporarily suspended the planned execution of Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens until a firing squad could be selected and inmates could decide whether to die by firing squad or by electric chair.
According to prison officials in South Carolina, they are not able to obtain lethal injection drugs. As a result, they have no choice but to use an electric chair.
The two men’s attorneys have contended that death by electrocution was cruel and unusual. In their opinion, the new law would move the state toward less humane methods of execution. They claim that the men have a right to die by lethal injection and that the state has not exhausted all means of procuring lethal injection drugs.