(NewsNation) — For the first time in 15 years, the United States will put someone to death using a firing squad when South Carolina executes death row inmate Brad Sigmon on Friday.
Sigmon chose a firing squad over lethal injection and electrocution, which are also authorized by the state, citing concerns that little is known about the drugs or process used in injections.
While the method may seem barbarous, it felt the most humane to the inmate, his lawyer said.
“The fact that he ‘chose’ this, that tells you how fearful he is about this lethal injection process that’s so shrouded in secrecy,” his lawyer, Gerald “Bo” King, told The Washington Post.
Sigmon feared that the electric chair would be being “cooked to death” and that lethal injection could cause pulmonary edema, a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs and can feel like suffocation or drowning, King told The Washington Post.
What is Brad Sigmon sentenced to die for?
Sigmon, 67, is being executed for the 2001 killings of his ex-girlfriend’s parents at their home in Greenville County.
”I miss my momma and daddy,” Sigmon’s ex-girlfriend, Rebecca Armstrong, said of her slain parents to USA Today. “I didn’t get to see them grow old.”
The South Carolina Supreme Court rejected an 11th hour and likely last appeal to halt the execution Thursday.
Why did Sigmon not choose lethal injection?
His main appeal to halt the execution was to gain more information about the drug South Carolina uses in lethal injections so he could have a better understanding of what to expect, King said.
South Carolina has a shield law that keeps the suppliers of its lethal injection drugs, the members of the execution team and the procedure used to kill an inmate secret.
Autopsies from two inmates executed by lethal injection in South Carolina showed massive amounts of the drug pentobarbital and a considerable amount of fluid in their lungs. A defense expert testified the inmates might have struggled to breathe.
Lawyers for the state have said fluid is often found in the lungs of prisoners killed by lethal injections, and other courts have not ruled it was cruel and unusual punishment.
Other than South Carolina, five states authorize the use of firing squads, including Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah.
Only Utah has utilized death by firing squad on three inmates in 1977, 1996 and 2010 since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
How the firing squad execution will happen
Friday’s execution will be carried out by three volunteer firing squad members using live ammunition from behind a wall about 15 feet from the inmate, according to officials.
Bullet-resistant glass has been installed between the witness room and death chamber.
“The inmate will be strapped into the chair, and a hood will be placed over his head. A small aim point will be placed over his heart by a member of the execution team,” officials said.
Not much is known about the people who will fire the rifles. Prison officials said they have “completed all required training.”
The information released by the state to the public gives no indication what might happen if an inmate survives the initial shots. At the 2022 trial, witnesses indicated the squad could fire again.
Is the firing squad a humane or heinous method of execution?
Some say the firing squad is more humane than lethal injections, which have been botched in the past.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a 2017 dissent that “in addition to being near instant, death by shooting may also be comparatively painless.”
Her comments came in the case of an Alabama inmate who asked to be executed by firing squad. A Supreme Court majority refused to hear his appeal. In her dissent, Sotomayor said lethal drugs can mask intense pain by paralyzing inmates while they are still sentient.
“What cruel irony that the method that appears most humane may turn out to be our most cruel experiment yet,” she wrote.
Dr. James Williams, an emergency room physician, has testified on the effectiveness of the firing squad.
“There is a lot of evidence that the near-instant loss of blood pressure means no blood gets to the brainstem, and there is a rapid loss of consciousness,” he told The Marshall Project.
However, Williams stresses that, just as with any other execution method, protocols must be precise to avoid mistakes.
Talking about the Utah firing squad deaths, Williams said that “when the written protocol was fully followed, none were botched, which speaks strongly to the reliability of this method.”
He added that “Utah had four loaded rifles and South Carolina will use just three, along with a blank, which should be adequate. But there’s the possibility a shooter is not adequately trained, or faulty ammunition.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
