South Carolina man on death row chooses execution by firing squad

A South Carolina inmate on death row decided on Friday to be executed by firing squad, instead of lethal injection or electric chair, the 67-year-old inmate's lawyer said in a statement.

Brad Sigmon, who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 2002, is scheduled to be executed on March 7. If successful, he would be the first South Carolinian on death row to be executed by firing squad, and first inmate in the U.S. since 2010, according to NBC News. 

Sigmon's attorney Gerald “Bo” King said that his client's decision was a hard one because each of the options had tough downsides.

“The choice Brad faced today was impossible,” King said. “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."

King said if he chose lethal injection then he could face the same fate as the three South Carolinian men who were executed before Sigmon, in which dying took 20 minutes.

"The only choice that remained is the firing squad," King said. "Brad has no illusions about what being shot will do to his body. He does not wish to inflict that pain on his family, the witnesses or the execution team."

Sigmon is expected to be executed at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, barring any last-minute appeals. He will also be the oldest person South Carolina has ever executed.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.