r*s
发帖数: 2555 | 1 South Carolina has given the greenlight to firing-squad executions, a method
codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out
death sentences because of the state’s inability to procure lethal
injection drugs.
The state Corrections Department said Friday that renovations have been
completed on the death chamber in Columbia and that the agency had notified
Attorney General Alan Wilson that it was able to carry out a firing-squad
execution.
Lawmakers set about tweaking state law to get around the lethal injection
drug situation. Legislation that went into effect in May made the electric
chair the state’s primary means of execution while giving inmates the
option of choosing death by firing squad or lethal injection, if those
methods are available. | r*s
发帖数: 2555 | 2 During South Carolina’s lengthy debate, Democratic state Sen. Dick
Harpootlian — a prosecutor-turned-criminal-defense lawyer — introduced the
firing squad option. He argued that it presented “the least painful”
execution method available.
“The death penalty is going to stay the law here for a while,” Harpootlian
said. “If we’re going to have it, it ought to be humane.”
According to officials, the death chamber now also includes a metal chair,
with restraints, in the corner of the room in which inmates will sit if they
choose execution by firing squad. That chair faces a wall with a
rectangular opening, 15 feet away, through which the three shooters will
fire their weapons.
State officials also have created protocols for carrying out the executions.
The three shooters, all volunteers who are employees of the Corrections
Department, will have rifles loaded with live ammunition, with their weapons
trained on the inmate's heart. |
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