Brad Sigmon Wiki - Brad Sigmon Biography
Brad Sigmon was scheduled to die on Friday. He was convicted in 2001 of beating the parents of his ex-girlfriend, David, and Gladys Larke, to death with a baseball bat. The execution of the Greenville man cannot be rescheduled until a firing squad is established as one of the options, Greenville News reported Wednesday.
The state Department of Corrections "is making progress in creating policies and procedures for a firing squad," spokeswoman Chrysti Shain told Greenville News. “We hope that other states will guide us through this process. We will notify the court when a firing squad becomes an option for executions. "
The move is one of a series of legal maneuvers stemming from South Carolina's amended capital punishment law, the newspaper said.
Brad Sigmon Age
Brad Sigmon is 63 years old.
Brad Sigmon Death Penalty
The South Carolina Supreme Court has halted the upcoming executions of two inmates on South Carolina's death row until the state can find a way to create a firing squad. The superior court issued an order late Wednesday afternoon, just two days before the first inmate, Brad Sigmon, was killed. Freddie Owens was going to die a week later.
In their ruling, the judges said that those sentenced to death have the legal right to choose their method of death. Since South Carolina currently only has one way to kill an inmate, the electric chair, that is not possible at this time. The court does not block the executions themselves, but rather delays them until the state finds a way to carry out the other method of execution, which is a firing squad.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections confirmed to News19 that they had received the South Carolina Supreme Court order.
"The department is making progress in creating policies and procedures for a firing squad," a corrections spokesman said Wednesday afternoon. "We are seeking guidance in other states through this process. We will notify the court when a firing squad becomes an option for executions."
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The men's lawyers have also argued that the state has not exhausted all avenues to obtain lethal injection drugs. Sigmon was to die on June 18, while Owens' execution was scheduled for June 25. They would have been the first prisoners to be executed in a decade in the state.
Last week, a state circuit court and a federal district court had refused to stop the executions. The death penalty is legal in South Carolina, but no one has been executed on death row since 2011. That was because the state was unable to obtain the drugs necessary to execute inmates by lethal injection.
But the South Carolina General Assembly passed a new law earlier this year that aimed to avoid that problem by offering inmates the option of dying in the electric chair or firing squad. Gov. Henry McMaster signed the measure into law, saying families need justice.
However, due to the new law, the South Carolina Department of Corrections has not developed protocols for using a firing squad. Opponents of the death penalty say both the firing squad and the electric chair are inhumane.
Sigmon killed his girlfriend's parents in Greenville with a baseball bat in 2001. He has been on death row since 2002. Owens was convicted of killing a convenience store employee.
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