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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSouth Carolina Man to be Killed in First Firing Squad Execution in 15 Years

Brad Sigmon. (Photo: Courtesy of Brad Sigmon legal team)
A South Carolina man on death row has chosen to be killed by firing squad, and if his execution goes forward next month, it would be the first time in 15 years that capital punishment in the US is carried out by gunfire. Brad Sigmon (67) is scheduled to be shot to death on 7 Mar, part of a spate of rapid killings the state has pursued in the last six months as it revives executions after a 13-year pause.
South Carolina now directs those on death row to choose how they will be killed -- electric chair, lethal injection or shooting. If they decline to make a selection, the state electrocutes them. Attorneys for men on South Carolina's death row have previously objected to firing squads, raising concerns about the pain caused by shootings and arguing the method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. But Sigmon selected a firing squad in part because of concerns about the state's lethal injection methods, his attorneys said.
South Carolina now directs those on death row to choose how they will be killed -- electric chair, lethal injection or shooting. If they decline to make a selection, the state electrocutes them. Attorneys for men on South Carolina's death row have previously objected to firing squads, raising concerns about the pain caused by shootings and arguing the method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. But Sigmon selected a firing squad in part because of concerns about the state's lethal injection methods, his attorneys said.
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Utah and Idaho are also considering the use of firing squads (I wrote an OP about this several weeks ago). One rifleman is anonymously given a powerful blank cartridge so he can think that he wasn't the one who killed the prisoner. (Photo: NY Post / Shutterstock)


Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/21/brad-sigmon-death-penalty-firing-squad
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South Carolina Man to be Killed in First Firing Squad Execution in 15 Years (Original Post)
C0RI0LANUS
Feb 2025
OP
Doodley
(11,547 posts)1. This is America.
William Seger
(12,135 posts)2. "... first time in 15 years ..."
I had no idea we were still doing that in the 21st Century.
GreenWave
(12,150 posts)3. So to teach us how wrong it is to premeditate a murder...
the state premeditated how to carry out his murder.
C0RI0LANUS
(3,015 posts)4. Similarly, when homosexuality was a crime, prisoners were sent to all male facilities. The ironies are rich.