by Payton Bell

Former convicted double murderer Brad Sigmon was executed on March 7by South Carolina’s first firing squad execution. It has been 15 years since someone chose or was executed this way. The execution of Sigmon marks a significant moment in the ongoing debate surrounding capital punishment in the United States. On the surface, it raises questions about the moral and legal implications of such acts. However, Sigmon’s execution is a reminder of this issue and the controversy it has within society. His tragic case discusses the human cost of capital punishment and the justice system.

Brad Sigmon was convicted in 2002 for murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents, David Larke and Gladys Larke, with a baseball bat on April 27, 2001. During his time in prison, he found his faith in Christ and expressed remorse while he was incarcerated for his actions. Before Sigman was executed, he said he wanted his closing statement to be “one of love and calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty. An eye for an eye justification was used by the jury for seeking the death penalty. At that time, I was too ignorant to know how wrong that was. Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law but now live under the New Testament.” Was his statement true about his belief or to make the state of South Carolina’s government system feel guilty? Though it was his choice of execution style, the methods given are not sustainable. The former prosecutor of death penalty cases, Richard Harpootlian pushed for the firing squad method because he believed “it was less barbaric” than the electrical chair.

Only five states have a firing squad as an option for the death penalty – Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah. The Collegian asks Dr. John Barbrey,  Professor of Sociology if this will change other state laws regarding the death penalty. Barbrey stated, “Some states have recently added firing squads as an execution method, and others may follow, like another innovative law. There is no way to predict it.” Sigmon chose execution by firing squad due to the concerns raised about lethal injection executions done previously in South Carolina. Inmates who were executed in this manner needed twice the dose of pentobarbital, and based on an autopsy report filed by the defense last month, an inmate was “drowning” as it was shown “his lungs were massively swollen with blood and fluid.” This raises concerns: Are the execution styles given humane?  “Firing squads is a painful, bloody way to die.  The electric chair is not a clean method either — flesh and hair may burn, and it’s painful,” Barbrey states. “States needed another method because the drugs for lethal injection are hard to acquire.  There are the ethics of the death penalty itself to consider, as well as worrying about the effects on prison staff who must actually shoot another living human.”

The execution of Brad Sigmon serves as a stark reminder of human consequences and the issues of justice, mortality and the effectiveness of the death penalty. Highlighting the need to look at both perspectives involving legally and humanely. Moving forward, we need to ask ourselves tough questions about the future of the death penalty and its role in our society.