The Return of the Firing Squad: A South Carolina Execution and a Shifting Landscape in Capital Punishment
A South Carolina inmate, Brad Keith Sigmon, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on Friday, marking a grim return to a method of capital punishment that has largely faded from use in the United States. Sigmon, 67, was convicted of the brutal 2001 murders of David and Gladys Larke, his former girlfriend’s parents. His choice of execution method highlights a growing trend among states grappling with the complexities of lethal injection and seeking alternative means of carrying out death sentences.
South Carolina law allows death row inmates to choose their method of execution. Should they decline to select, the state’s electric chair, a relic of over a century ago, becomes the default option. Sigmon’s attorney, Gerald "Bo" King, stated that his client’s decision to opt for the firing squad was the "best choice he could given the monstrous alternatives," hinting at the perceived horrors associated with the electric chair.
Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University and an expert on capital punishment, notes that while firing squads have a long history globally, dating back to the advent of firearms, their use in the U.S. has been limited. They were largely replaced by hanging in the mid-19th century. However, a resurgence is underway. South Carolina is among a handful of states, including Idaho, Mississippi and Oklahoma, that have legalized firing squads as an execution method. Idaho most recently authorized firing squad executions in 2023. "Its safe to say since 1858 weve never had this many states adopting firing squad as a method of execution, and thats a pretty astonishing statistic," Denno said, underscoring the historical rarity of this trend.
The history of executions by firing squad in America stretches back to the colonial era. The first recorded execution in colonial America, that of Captain George Kendall in 1608, was carried out by firing squad. From that point until 2002, at least 143 civilians were executed by shooting, according to the Espy File, a database of executions.
Mark Smith, director of the Institute for Southern Studies, points out that firing squads were also potentially used by the military during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, but their primary use was during the Civil War. Even then, it wasn’t a terribly common method, serving primarily as a public deterrent against desertion for both Union and Confederate soldiers. Smith submitted an affidavit on the history of firing squad executions in a case heard by the South Carolina Supreme Court. He noted that less than 5% of the 26,000 Union soldiers tried for desertion were sentenced to death by firing squad. While the number is unclear for Confederate soldiers, approximately 12% of the Army of Northern Virginia soldiers tried for desertion received the same sentence.
The Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit organization that provides information and analysis on capital punishment, claims that no executions by firing squad since 1890 have been botched. However, the Salt Lake City Tribune has reported that the executions of Wallace Wilkerson in 1879 and Eliseo J. Mares in 1951 were botched. Mares was shot in the hip and abdomen and reportedly wasn’t declared dead for several minutes.
In modern U.S. history, there have only been three executions by firing squad, all of which took place in Utah. The state executed Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010, John Albert Taylor in 1996, and Gary Mark Gilmore in 1977 using this method.
The resurgence of firing squads is largely attributed to the increasing difficulty in obtaining lethal injection drugs. Pharmaceutical companies, facing public pressure and ethical concerns, have become increasingly reluctant to supply drugs used for executions. This scarcity has forced states to explore alternative methods, including firing squads and nitrogen gas, which was first used in the U.S. in January 2024 in Alabama for the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith.
South Carolina passed a shield law to conceal the identities of those involved in executions and made over 1,300 inquiries to drug manufacturers, suppliers, and compounding pharmacies in search of lethal drugs in order to resume executions after a hiatus of over a decade.
Idaho is even considering a bill that would make firing squads the state’s primary form of capital punishment following the failed lethal injection of Thomas Creech. Other states may follow suit, according to Denno.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections has outlined the protocol for firing squad executions. The inmate will be restrained in a metal chair in a room also housing the state’s electric chair. The firing squad will consist of three volunteers from the corrections staff, armed with loaded rifles, positioned 15 feet away behind a wall with an opening. Bullet-resistant glass separates the death chamber from the witness room, where family members of both the inmate and victim, news media, attorneys, and prison staff will be present. A hood will be placed over the inmate’s head, and a small aim point will be placed over his heart. After the warden reads the execution order, the team will fire. A doctor will then examine the inmate, and the curtain will be drawn after the inmate is declared dead.
Reporters who witnessed the 2010 execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner in Utah described a similar process. Five volunteer prison staff members fired at him from about 25 feet away with .30-caliber rifles, aiming at a target pinned over his chest. One of the rifles contained a blank, ensuring that no single volunteer knew whether they fired a fatal bullet. Gardner was pronounced dead within two minutes of the shots being fired.
Denno noted that at least one execution, which took place in Nevada in 1913, used a machine to pull the trigger instead of human executioners. The Idaho Department of Correction is also considering using “a remote-operated weapons system alongside traditional firing squad methods,” according to spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic.
The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled last year that the state could execute death row inmates by firing squad, the electric chair, or lethal injection, although two justices expressed concerns about the legality of the firing squad.
Denno argues that death by firing squads meets the criteria for a constitutional method of execution set by the United States Supreme Court, stating, "Its a well-known method, unlike nitrogen hypoxia. Its readily available, unlike some drugs used for lethal injection. And its effective, meaning that no one has survived a botched execution by firing squad."
Despite the inherent discomfort Americans may feel with the method, especially given the country’s ongoing struggles with gun violence, Denno believes it is the "least inhumane" and "most honest" form of capital punishment. "If I were going to have to choose, I would choose firing squad. Theres no question about that," she said. Yet she acknowledges that "It is a barbaric method. Its associated with war time, its associated with on the street killings, and its associated with how they kill in countries that we would not want to share an association with, and it is associated with interpersonal violence in this country."
Smith also understands why an inmate might choose the firing squad, believing it to be more effective and immediate than the alternatives. However, he points out that historical accounts of Civil War-era firing squad executions describe them as ghoulish, with shots sometimes needing to be fired multiple times to ensure death.
While modern firing squad executions will differ significantly from their 19th-century counterparts, Smith concludes that "what were doing today is a throwback to something that was considered unusual and cruel during the hardest part of American history, and Im not sure where that really places us today." The execution of Brad Keith Sigmon represents a significant moment in the ongoing debate surrounding capital punishment in the United States, raising fundamental questions about the methods used and their compatibility with contemporary values.
