Lawyer shares statement after death row inmate dies in state's first ever execution by firing squad

Brad Sigmon was shot to death on Friday (March 7), marking the first death row inmate killed by firing squad in 15 years.

Brad Sigmon, 67, was convicted of murdering David and Gladys Larke, the parents of his ex-girlfriend, back in 2001. After this, he kidnapped his former partner, but she was able to escape while he shot at her.

The man served 23 years on death row for the murders, and following his guilty conviction, Sigmon was handed two life sentences in addition to a 30-year jail term for first-degree burglary.

Sigmon had requested to die by firing squad over the other two state methods of execution, the electric chair and lethal injection.

Sigmon was seated on the firing squad chair pictured at the back (South Carolina Department of Corrections)

His lawyer Bo King has now spoken out against the method of execution while also taking issue with how things were handled in South Carolina.

In a recently released statement, King has also suggested Sigmon may have wanted to choose lethal injection rather than firing squad.

King was hoping for a last-minute stay of execution by the South Carolina governor and accused the state of withholding information about the lethal injection process.

He said: “Brad only wanted assurances that these drugs were not expired, or diluted, or spoiled - what any of us would want to know about the medication we take, or the food we eat, much less the means of our death.

“It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle."

King also said that Sigmon was suffering from mental health issues and had shown proof of rehabilitation as he wanted to share his last meal with other people incarcerated.

Brad's lawyer has said that his client had shown he was rehabilitated (South Carolina Department of Corrections)

King continued: “Brad is someone who, for his last meal, asked to get three buckets of original recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken so he could share with the guys that he's incarcerated with on death row.

“With his last meal, he wanted to share something special with them.”

Witnesses said Sigmon said he wanted his final statement to be ‘one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty’.

He added: “An eye for an eye was used as justification to the jury for seeking the death penalty. At that time, I was too ignorant to know how wrong that was. Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law but now live under the New Testament."

He closed by saying: “We are not under God’s grace and mercy.”

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