No lethal injection or electrocution, South Carolina is all set to carry out its first execution by firing squad in modern history.
This will be the first use of the method in the United States in 15 years.
Brad Sigmon, 67, convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 2001, is scheduled to be executed on March 7 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.
Here’s all we know about it.
The crime
Sigmon is facing execution for killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat at their Greenville County home in 2001. According to authorities, Sigmon beat them to death while they were in different rooms, moving back and forth.
Then, at gunpoint, he abducted his ex-girlfriend, but she managed to flee his vehicle. Prosecutors claim he shot at her while she was running but missed. As Sigmon confessed, “I couldn’t have her. I wasn’t going to let anybody else have her.”
He will be the first US firing squad death in 15 years.
This undated image provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows Brad Sigmon. AP
Sigmon opted for it over the two other methods in South Carolina – the electric chair and lethal injection.
Gerald “Bo” King, his lawyer, claimed that Sigmon decided on the firing squad since the other options appeared to be worse.
Content retrieved from: https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/us-south-carolina-first-firing-squad-execution-15-years-13869125.html.
