What will happen when man on death row has gruelling execution method that hasn’t been used in 15 years
Brad Sigmon, who is scheduled to be executed next month, has chosen an execution method that hasn't been implemented in the US since 2010 - so what will happen?
In 2001, Sigmon was convicted of the double murder of his ex Rebecca Barbe's parents in South Carolina.
Sigmon had attacked Rebecca's parents with a baseball bat while they were in their Greenville County home, beating them to death before kidnapping Rebecca at gunpoint, which she managed to escape.
According to CBS, he later said in a confession: "I couldn't have her, I wasn't going to let anybody else have her."
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Sigmon's execution date is scheduled to be on March 7, 2025, and he has since chosen to be executed via a firing squad.
What will happen to Sigmon?
In 2022, the South Carolina Department of Corrections said in a press release that the Broad River execution chamber, where Sigmon is being held, had been 'renovated to include the capacity to perform an execution by firing squad'.
"The chamber now includes a chair in which inmates will sit if they choose execution by firing squad." it continued (via NBC News). "The chair is in a corner of the room away from the current electric chair, which cannot be moved."
According to the outlet, bullet-resistant glass has also been placed between the chamber and the witness room, with the metal chair used being 'surrounded by protective equipment' and facing 'a wall with a rectangular opening 15 feet away'.
The New York Post further reports that Sigmon will be strapped to a chair and have a hood placed over his head, with a target placed over his 'heart' as three volunteer officers will shoot at him through a small opening.
Why has Sigmon chosen this?
In South Carolina, death row inmates are required to chose their method of execution, which is either lethal injection, electric chair or firing squad - with the default being the electric chair.
According to Gerald 'Bo' King, Signmon's attorney, the 67-year-old didn't end up choosing the electric chair or the injection for a few reasons.
He said (via NBC News): "The choice Brad faced today was impossible. Unless he elected lethal injection or the firing squad, he would die in South Carolina’s ancient electric chair, which would burn and cook him alive.
"But the alternative is just as monstrous. If he chose lethal injection, he risked the prolonged death suffered by all three of the men South Carolina has executed since September — three men Brad knew and cared for — who remained alive, strapped to a gurney, for more than twenty minutes."
King added that Sigmon has 'no illusions about what being shot will do to his body', adding: "He does not wish to inflict that pain on his family, the witnesses, or the execution team.
"But, given South Carolina’s unnecessary and unconscionable secrecy, Brad is choosing as best he can."
Callum Jones