South Carolina s 109-year-old electric chair is one of two legal execution methods under a law signed by the governor on Friday. Firing squad is the other and prison officials have been doing preliminary research into how such executions are carried out in other states, but are not sure how long it will take to have a firing squad in place in South Carolina. Kinard Lisbon/South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP
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toggle caption Kinard Lisbon/South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP
South Carolina s 109-year-old electric chair is one of two legal execution methods under a law signed by the governor on Friday. Firing squad is the other and prison officials have been doing preliminary research into how such executions are carried out in other states, but are not sure how long it will take to have a firing squad in place in South Carolina.
New death penalty law makes inmates pick electric chair or firing squad in South Carolina
May 17, 2021 / 12:47 PM / CBS/AP
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has signed into law a bill that forces death row inmates for now to choose between the electric chair or a newly formed firing squad in hopes the state can restart executions after an involuntary 10-year pause. South Carolina had been one of the most prolific states of its size in putting inmates to death, but a lack of lethal injection drugs brought executions to a halt.
McMaster signed the bill Friday with no ceremony or fanfare, according to the state Legislature s website. It s the first bill the governor decided to deal with after nearly 50 hit his desk Thursday.
The Palmetto State’s Republican governor signed off on legislation to resume executions despite a lack of lethal injection drugs by forcing death row inmates to choose between electrocution and a newly developed firing squad.
South Carolina’s electric chair is seen in Columbia in 2019. (Kinard Lisbon/South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP, File)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (CN) Aiming to end a decade-long pause in executions, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed a bill Friday that requires death row inmates to choose between the electric chair and a firing squad if lethal injection is not an available option.
Those sentenced to death in South Carolina were previously given the choice between lethal injection and the electric chair located in the death chamber of the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.
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