‘STATE’S CHOSEN METHOD’

Federal Judge Greenlights Upcoming Electric Chair Executions in South Carolina

The executions would be the state’s first in a decade.

A judge in South Carolina on Friday declined to stay the executions of two men by electric chair, ruling that they failed to prove the method was “cruel and unusual,” as forbidden in the 8th Amendment. Judge Robert Bryan Harwell wrote, “Legal precedent and the weight of legal authority are against them. The United States Supreme Court has never held that a State’s chosen method of execution qualifies as cruel and unusual.” Brad Sigmon, convicted of beating his ex-girlfriend’s parents to death with a baseball bat, is slated to be executed June 18. Freddie Owens is scheduled to be executed a week later for murdering a convenience store clerk and later a fellow inmate. Both have appealed their cases to the South Carolina Supreme Court. Their executions would be the first in a decade, after the state passed a new law effectively making death row inmates choose between the electric chair and firing squad.