18 May 2021 :
Governor signs bill adding firing squad as an option for executions
Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Friday signed into law a bill allowing death row inmates to elect execution by electric chair or firing squad if lethal injection drugs are not available. The new law will become effective on Monday, May 17.
The change in South Carolina's law comes as states nationwide have hit barriers executing those on death row due to problems administering lethal injections, the widely preferred method in the US. Difficulties finding the required drugs have essentially paused executions in many states, including South Carolina, which has not had an execution since 2011.
The new South Carolina law keeps lethal injection as the primary method of execution but states that if lethal injection is unavailable "then the manner of inflicting a death sentence must be by electrocution, unless the convicted person elects death by firing squad."
The law also states that death row inmates must make their election within 14 days of their execution date "or it is waived."
If the prisoner does not make an election, the state's Department of Corrections will use electrocution to carry out the execution.
In a tweet on Monday, McMaster said, "This weekend, I signed legislation into law that will allow the state to carry out a death sentence. The families and loved ones of victims are owed closure and justice by law. Now, we can provide it."
South Carolina is now the fourth state to allow executions by firing squad, joining Oklahoma, Mississippi and Utah. Only Utah has actually used it.
The last person in the United States to be executed by firing squad was Ronnie Lee Gardner, in 2010.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections says it is looking into how to perform firing squad executions.
"The S.C. Department of Corrections will inform the S.C. Supreme Court that it can carry out executions. The only method available at this time is the electric chair," Director of Communications Chrysti Shain told CNN in an email. "The department is working to develop protocols and procedures to proceed with execution by firing squad and still has no lethal injections drugs. We are currently looking at other states for guidance in developing firing squad protocols."
South Carolina’s last execution took place on May 6, 2011. There are presently 37 people on death row in the state.
Prosecutors said 3 inmates have exhausted all their normal appeals, but can't be killed because under the previous law, inmates who don't choose the state's 109-year-old electric chair automatically are scheduled to die by lethal injection. They have all chosen the method that can't be carried out.
How soon executions can begin is up in the air. The electric chair is ready to use. Prison officials have been doing preliminary research into how firing squads carry out executions in other states, but are not sure how long it will take to have one in place in South Carolina. The other 3 states that allow a firing squad are Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
3 inmates, all in Utah, have been killed by firing squad since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1977. 19 inmates have died in the electric chair this century, and South Carolina is 1 of 8 states that can still electrocute inmates, according to the center.
Lawyers for the men with potentially imminent death dates are considering suing over the new law, saying the state is going backward.
