Joe Yates
A death row inmate has become the first person in 15 years to die by way of firing squad, and he's only the fourth since 1976.
Brad Sigmon completed his sentence yesterday (March 7), as three state corrections department volunteers unloaded simultaneously a round of 100-grain TAP Urban bullet each from their .308-caliber Winchester rifles.
The convicted double murderer became the 1,613th person to die by way of execution in the US since 1977, and in his final words, the 67-year-old preached that the bible doesn't condone the killing of another person.
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Sigmon, who brutally beat his ex-girlfriend's parents to death with a baseball bat back in 2002, cited four quotes from the Bible in an attempt to underline his point that the New Testament doesn't permit the killing of 'another man'.
"I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty," read aloud his attorney from his statement.
"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."
Concluding with: "We are not under God’s grace and mercy."
For his execution, which took place inside the death chamber at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, Sigmon was hooded and wore a black jumpsuit with a target placed over his heart, and was shot while strapped to a metal chair that was sat on a catch basin.
At 6.05pm, the volunteers, who were positioned 15 feet away and hidden from the viewing area, unloaded on him. A doctor then examined him for about a minute and a half before declaring him dead at 6.08pm.
The man served 23 years on death row for the killing of David and Gladys Larke - who he chose to murder after their daughter broke up with him a week before.
Following his guilty conviction, Sigmon was handed two life sentences in addition to a 30-year jail term for first-degree burglary.
While his lawyers attempted to have Sigmon be held behind bars for the rest of his life, a jury ultimately decided to sentence him to death.
In South Carolina, where Sigmon was being held, death row inmates can choose their means of execution.