The South Carolina House voted to approve firing squads as an execution method as the state struggles from a shortage of lethal injection drugs.
“Those families of victims to these capital crimes are unable to get any closure because we are caught in this limbo stage where every potential appeal has been exhausted, and the legally imposed sentences cannot be carried out,” said Republican State Rep. Weston Newton of the legislation.
The legislation, which passed by a 66-43 vote, will give inmates sentenced to death the choice between the firing squad or electric chair if lethal injection drugs are not available. South Carolina is one of only nine states that still use the electric chair for executions, while this legislation will make the state the fourth to allow firing squads.
South Carolina once had one of the busiest execution chambers in the country but has not executed a death row inmate in nearly a decade after its supply of lethal injection drugs expired. Current law allows inmates to choose between the electric chair and lethal injection, causing inmates to choose injection with the knowledge that the drugs are unavailable.
SOUTH CAROLINA MAY ADD FIRING SQUADS TO LIST OF EXECUTION METHODS
The new legislation maintains lethal injection as the primary method of execution in the state if the drugs are available but requires prisons to use the electric chair or firing squad if the drugs are not available.
But the legislation was fiercely opposed by Democrats, who offered several amendments in an attempt to block the use of firing squads.
“Three living, breathing human beings with a heartbeat that this bill is aimed at killing,” said Democratic State Rep. Justin Bamberg. “If you push the green button at the end of the day and vote to pass this bill out of this body, you may as well be throwing the switch yourself.”
The amendments offered by Democrats included “not applying the new execution rules to current death row inmates; livestreaming executions on the internet; outlawing the death penalty outright; and requiring lawmakers to watch executions,” with all amendments being rejected.
Democrats also pointed to the case of 14-year-old George Stinney, the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century, when he was convicted in a one-day trial of killing two white girls. Stinney’s conviction was thrown out by a judge in 2014, while witnesses to his execution described a scene in which the straps to keep him in the electric chair did not fit around his smaller frame.
“So not only did South Carolina give the electric chair to the youngest person ever in America, but the boy was innocent,” Bamberg said.
But Republicans argued that this legislation was not the time to debate the merits of the death penalty but instead was about applying the law as it is currently written.
South Carolina has 37 prisoners currently on death row, three of whom are out of appeals.
“This bill doesn’t deal with the merits or the propriety of whether we should have a death penalty in South Carolina,” Newton said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The state’s Senate already approved the legislation by a 32-11 vote in March, meaning it will be on the way to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk for signature. McMaster has indicated he plans to sign the bill into law.
