Judge finds South Carolina firing squad, electric chair unconstitutional

Kathryn Casteel, Greenville News
·2 min read
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GREENVILLE, S.C. — A South Carolina judge has found that the firing squad and electric chair are prohibited by the state's constitution, a decision sure to be swiftly appealed as the state struggles to implement its new execution protocols.

In an order filed Tuesday evening, Judge Jocelyn Newman ruled that the South Carolina Department of Corrections is permanently barred from executing four death row inmates by electrocution or by firing squad

"In 2021, South Carolina turned back the clock and became the only state in the country in which a person may be forced into the electric chair if he refuses to elect how he will die. In doing so, the General Assembly ignored advances in scientific research and evolving standards of humanity and decency," the order read.

An appeal to the decision is expected, which would take the matter to the state Supreme Court.

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A photo, provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections, shows the state's death chamber in Columbia, South Carolina, including the electric chair (right) and a firing squad chair (left). A South Carolina judge ruled Tuesday that the state's newly created execution firing squad, as well as its use of the electric chair, are unconstitutional.

Attorneys representing four condemned death row inmates, lawyers for the South Carolina Department of Corrections and Gov. Henry McMaster spent four days of trial debating whether the recently imposed death penalty statute violates the state constitution.

In May 2021, McMaster signed legislation that made the default method of execution the electric chair and added an additional option for the firing squad. This made South Carolina the only state with electrocution as the default method and the fourth state to implement the firing squad.

A civil lawsuit was filed shortly after the legislation was signed and alleged that the electric chair and firing squad methods were cruel, unusual and corporal punishment and prohibited by the state Constitution.

When a motion to dismiss the lawsuit was denied in April 2022, the state Supreme Court ordered the trial be completed within 90 days. The order also virtually halted all state executions while the case was heard.

Newman's recent order rules the executions of the four men permanently barred.

Dr. Jonathan Arden, who formerly led the Washington D.C. Medical Examiner’s office, testified that the electric chair caused “effects on parts on the body, including internal organs, that is the equivalent of cooking.”

Just three prisoners in South Carolina have chosen the electric chair since lethal injection was made available in 1995.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina firing squad and electric chair are unconstitutional