SC Supreme Court Delays First Firing Squad Execution

Greenville’s NBC News affiliate reports:

The South Carolina Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay halting the state from carrying out plans for its first-ever firing squad execution. Wednesday’s order by the state’s high court temporarily halts a scheduled April 29 execution of inmate Richard Moore.

The court order said a more detailed order will follow. Moore’s attorneys had asked justices to block the execution plan so they could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether his crime rises to the level of a death penalty offense.

The Myrtle Beach Sun News reports:

The news occurred on the same day, Wednesday, when a second man on South Carolina’s death row found out the day when he is scheduled die. Brad Keith Sigmon, a 64-year-old Greenville County man, was sentenced to death for the 2001 killings of his ex-girlfriend’s parents.

Sigmon’s execution date is set for May 13. By law, Sigmon will be asked to choose how he would prefer to die 14 days before his May 13 execution date, or April 29. Sigmon faces two choices: Death by a 110-year-old electric chair or death by the state’s newly-installed firing squad.

Photo: Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.

South Carolina’s highest court on Wednesday issued a temporary stay blocking the state from carrying out what was set to be its first-ever firing squad execution. https://t.co/TELZXXSysS

— WILX News 10 (@wilxTV) April 20, 2022