South Carolina schedules firing squad execution for April 29th

[politicallefty]

Link.

A man sentenced to death in South Carolina has chosen to be executed by firing squad rather than the electric chair, which would make him the first death row inmate to die by firing squad in the state.

Richard Bernard Moore, 57, would also be the first person executed in South Carolina in more than a decade, as the state has struggled to procure the drugs required to perform lethal injection.

[...]

In a court filing Friday, Moore chose to die by firing squad but added in a statement he will not lose hope in two pending court challenges to the constitutionality of the state's death penalty methods.

"I believe this election is forcing me to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution, and I do not intend to waive any challenges to electrocution or firing squad by making an election," he said in the statement.

He did not have the option of choosing lethal injection, as South Carolina does not have the necessary drugs, according to the filing. The department previously told CNN the state has not been in possession of a usable dose of lethal injection drugs since 2013.

The most recent execution in this country by firing squad was by the state of Utah in 2010 (one of only four executions by firing squad in the past 60+ years).

I've certainly made my position on the death penalty here very apparent over the years. However, if the death penalty is to be imposed, it needs to be realized for what it is. I'm glad to see lethal injection move to the wayside. It was neither humane nor a full realization of what is being done. I think the older methods of execution make some pro-death penalty individuals far more uncomfortable (something I know from direct personal conversations).

[politicallefty]

all the stories about this guy are about his method of execution, I can only get that he murdered a store clerk during a robbery.  Is that all?  That doesn't seem like enough.  It's bad, don't get me wrong, but people have done far worse and got out young enough to do more horrible things.  Did he have a history?  He must have had a history...right?

edit=further Googling confirmed that he had a long history of violent robberies to support his drug habit.

He's black and he was convicted and sentenced in South Carolina. You should also consider the way they stack so-called "death-qualified" juries. The crime also happened in 1999, which was the post-Furman peak for new death sentences and executions.

[politicallefty]

My initial post shouldn't have been taken to say that there's something inherently bad about firing squad versus other forms of execution. It probably is the least objectionable form other than perhaps inert gas asphyxiation. Electrocution is horrifying and should have been struck down years ago (which was one vote away at the Supreme Court back in the 80s). I think Justice Brennan had it right when he noted death by electrocution is "nothing less than the contemporary technological equivalent of burning people at the stake".

I think lethal injection has always sort of sugarcoated what is actually being done. I'm fairly sure that's the reason why the 3-drug protocol always included a paralytic. Firing squad is far more in-your-face, so to speak. I have no doubt many death penalty supporters have a cognitive dissonance about the practice, something that is more apparent when the methods become bloodier or are perceived to be more barbaric. The guillotine would be far more logical, but that's obviously a nonstarter.

Unfortunately, it is the South and the bloodlust there is still running very strong, accounting for nearly 90% of executions. I can see other states abolishing the death penalty, but the South is very difficult (apart from perhaps Louisiana).