In a rare execution method not seen in the U.S. for 15 years, convicted double murderer Brad Sigmon was executed by a firing squad in South Carolina. Sigmon, 67, was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m. on Friday, March 7, 2025, at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.
Sigmon was convicted in 2002 for the murders of his ex-girlfriend's parents, Gladys and David Larke, whom he had killed with a baseball bat in 2001. His motive, as he admitted, was his ex-girlfriend's refusal to reconcile with him. Sigmon also confessed to planning to kill his ex-girlfriend and himself, following the double murder.
The execution was carried out by three volunteer prison employees who simultaneously shot Sigmon, who was blindfolded and strapped to a chair with a target on his heart. The executioners were positioned about 15 feet away, and their identities were kept anonymous, hidden from the dozen witnesses present by bullet-resistant glass.
Just hours before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an emergency motion to suspend the event due to concerns raised about South Carolina's policies surrounding lethal injection details. Sigmon's plea to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment was also denied by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.
Sigmon's attorneys had argued that he was a model prisoner and that the murders occurred during a period when he was struggling with severe mental illness. Despite this, he chose to die by firing squad, citing fears about the electric chair and lethal injection. This decision came after he was unable to confirm whether the lethal injection drugs were "expired, sub-potent, or spoiled."
"Does South Carolina’s compressed timeline and arbitrary denial of information necessary for a condemned prisoner to exercise his statutory right ‘never [to] be subjected to execution by a method he contends is more inhumane than another method that is available’ violate Due Process?" was the question he put forward to the justices.
In Sigmon's last statement, read by his attorney before his death, he expressed his opposition to the death penalty. His statement read:
"I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty."
Sigmon's execution has sparked discussions about the use of firing squads as a method of execution and raised questions about its humane nature. The execution was carried out indoors, leading some experts to question the safety for those present during the execution, including the executioners and witnesses.