Third Firing Squad Execution Scheduled in South Carolina
South Carolina is preparing to execute Stephen Bryant by firing squad on Friday, marking the third time this year the state will use this controversial method to carry out capital punishment. The 44-year-old was convicted for the October 2004 murder of Willard "TJ" Tietjen and pleaded guilty to two additional killings.
Legal Challenges and Brain Damage Claims
Bryant's legal team fought to halt the execution, arguing that the sentencing judge failed to properly consider brain damage resulting from his mother's substance abuse during pregnancy. His attorneys contended that this neurological impairment was exacerbated by "appalling physical and sexual abuse committed by several family members" during his childhood.
According to Associated Press reports, Bryant never received a comprehensive brain scan before his 2008 trial, which might have identified the extent of the damage. Despite these arguments, South Carolina's Supreme Court rejected the appeal to stop the execution on Monday.
The state attorney general's office countered these claims, describing Bryant as "methodical, cunning, and took pleasure" in his criminal activities. Prosecutors highlighted particularly disturbing aspects of the Tietjen murder, noting that investigators found Bryant had burned Tietjen's eyes with cigarettes and painted taunting messages using the victim's blood.
South Carolina's Execution Revival
South Carolina has dramatically intensified its use of capital punishment over the past year, executing six individuals in quick succession following a 13-year hiatus in executions. The state conducted its first firing squad execution in March, reintroducing a method that hadn't been used anywhere in the United States for fifteen years.
Human rights advocates have consistently condemned firing squads as "barbaric," yet the method has become one of three options available to death row inmates in South Carolina. Defendants now must choose between lethal injection, electrocution, or gunfire.
The Impossible Choice Facing Inmates
The Reverend Hillary Taylor, executive director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, described the decision facing condemned prisoners as an "impossible choice." She posed the grim question: "Do you choose being poisoned to death in a way that is akin to waterboarding, do you get cooked to death by electrocution, or do you get your heart blown out of your chest by a firing squad?"
Recent executions have raised concerns about all available methods. In Tennessee, records from a pentobarbital execution revealed the inmate's lungs became swollen with fluid, creating a sensation of suffocation and drowning according to death row lawyers.
Brad Sigmon, the first man executed by firing squad in South Carolina this year, selected gunfire because he feared experiencing the prolonged and painful deaths witnessed in three previous executions of men he knew well. His attorneys stated he preferred gunfire to being "burned... alive" by electrocution.
The second firing squad execution, that of Mikal Mahdi, generated controversy when his lawyers claimed the shooters missed the target area on his heart, resulting in a botched execution. State corrections officials disputed this, maintaining that the autopsy showed the shooters struck his heart before hitting other organs.
Broader Implications and Prevention
Reverend Taylor highlighted a troubling detail from court records indicating that Bryant had sought mental health treatment before committing his crimes but couldn't afford the $75 fee for care. She argued that "We're never going to solve the problem of violence in South Carolina if we are not willing to prevent it from happening in the first place."
Taylor further contended that employing more gun violence through executions doesn't effectively address criminal violence. As the state prepares for Friday's scheduled execution, Bryant's lawyers have declined to comment, while the attorney general's office hasn't responded to inquiries.
Chrysti Shain, spokesperson for South Carolina corrections, referenced her previous statements defending the firing squad method and disputing claims that Mahdi's execution was mishandled. She noted that accounts of recent lethal injection executions suggested the men "stopped breathing after a short time period."
