United States: Convict Chosen to Be Executed by Firing Squad, First Since 2010

A man sentenced to death in the US state of South Carolina (southeast) has chosen to be put to death by firing squad, a first in the country since 2010. Another southern state, Louisiana, will resume executions after a 15-year hiatus, using nitrogen inhalation , used for the first time by neighbouring Alabama since January 2024. This previously unprecedented and controversial method has been compared by UN experts to a form of "torture" .

South Carolina authorities have set a Feb. 7-March 7 execution date for Brad Sigmon, 67, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for beating his ex-girlfriend's parents, David and Gladys Larke, to death with a baseball bat before attempting to kidnap her. State law makes the electric chair the default method of execution, but allows the condemned man the option of death by firing squad or lethal injection.

The three previous executions in South Carolina since September, after a hiatus of more than 13 years, all chose lethal injection. But Brad Sigmon opted for the firing squad, out of desperation, according to his lawyers.

One of them, Gerald King, denounced in a statement last week an "impossible choice" between "the archaic electric chair of South Carolina, which would burn him alive" and "equally monstrous alternatives" . This will be the fourth execution by firing squad in the United States in 65 years, he said. The last one, in Utah (west), dates back to 2010.

Five executions have been carried out in the United States since the beginning of the year , all by lethal injection. Six are scheduled for March alone, including that of Brad Sigmon by firing squad and that of Jessie Hoffman, in Louisiana on March 18 by inhalation of nitrogen. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 American states. Six others (Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) observe a moratorium on executions by decision of the governor.