A South Carolina man is set to become the first person executed by firing squad in the U.S. in 15 years. Brad Sigmon, 67, will face his death Friday evening. He will walk into the death chamber, be strapped into a chair, and have a target placed over his heart. He may say his final words before a hood is put over his head. After that, three volunteers will fire rifles at him.
Unless the governor or the U.S. Supreme Court steps in, Sigmon will be the first person to die this way since 2010. He will also be just the fourth person executed by this method since the death penalty resumed in the U.S. 49 years ago.
Why did Sigmon choose a firing squad?
Sigmon admitted to killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat. He said he chose to die this way because he thought other methods were worse. Sigmon didn’t want to pick the electric chair, which he feared would burn him alive. He also didn’t want a lethal injection, since the details about the drug used in South Carolina are secret. Sigmon feared an injection would make him drown in his own fluids.
On Thursday, Sigmon’s lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the execution. They argued that the state doesn’t release enough information about the lethal injection drug.
A violent history of firing squads
This controverse kind of execution have a long and violent history. They have been used for punishing soldiers who desert or mutiny. The method was also used in America’s Old West and by governments like the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
In recent years, some people who support the death penalty think a firing squad is more humane. If the shooters are accurate, death comes quickly. In contrast, lethal injections require getting an IV in place, and electrocution can burn and disfigure. Some prisoners struggle and writhe when nitrogen gas is used to suffocate them.
Ronnie Gardner was the last person executed this way, in Utah in 2010. His brother disagrees with the idea that it is more humane. “This will be gruesome and barbaric,” Randy Gardner said. He showed photos of his brother’s autopsy and said that Sigmon’s execution would be even worse.
Inside the execution chamber
The death chamber is close to South Carolina’s death row, where Sigmon has been for 23 years. When the curtain opens Friday, family members of the victims, Sigmon’s lawyer, and three members of the media will watch from behind bullet-resistant glass.
The firing squad shooters will stand 15 feet away. After Sigmon’s hood is placed over his head, the shooters will fire at the same time. They will use .308-caliber bullets designed to shatter on impact with the chest. The goal is to destroy the heart and cause death almost immediately.
A doctor will confirm Sigmon’s death shortly after. The entire process will take no more than five minutes, which is quicker than a lethal injection.
Why did South Carolina choose a firing squad?
South Carolina started using the firing squad because it had trouble getting lethal injection drugs. No company would sell the drugs openly, and the state’s supply ran out. Judges wouldn’t set execution dates when lethal injection was the only option. As a result, 13 years passed with no executions.
A lawmaker in South Carolina suggested using this kind of execution. Supporters of the method pointed to a 2017 dissent by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She said that death by shooting might be faster and less painful than other methods.
Sigmon’s crime
Sigmon’s crime was brutal. He killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat because they had kicked him out of their home. He attacked them in separate rooms until they were both dead. Afterward, Sigmon kidnapped his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint. She escaped, but Sigmon shot at her as she ran.
Sigmon later admitted that he wanted to kill her and himself. He said he couldn’t let anyone else have her.
If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t intervene, Sigmon has one last chance. His lawyers have asked South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, to change his sentence to life in prison. They said Sigmon has worked hard to atone for his crime and is a model prisoner.
Sigmon plans to share his final meal with other prisoners before and donate the money in his commissary account.
Will the Governor step in?
Just before the firing squad execution, the prison warden will call Governor McMaster and the South Carolina Attorney General’s office. If there are no further appeals, and the governor doesn’t grant clemency, Sigmon will be brought to the death chamber.
Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, no South Carolina governor has granted clemency to a prisoner set for execution. Since then, 46 men have been executed in the state.
South Carolina continues to issue death warrants every five weeks. Two more prisoners will soon face the choice of lethal injection, electric chair, or firing squad.
