South Carolina carries out 6 executions after 12-year hiatus

The articles collectively examine the resumption of executions in South Carolina, detailing various instances and methods. South Carolina executed individuals by both firing squad and lethal injection, an indication of the state's inclusion of firing squad as a possible method of execution after a hiatus. Brad Sigmon was executed by firing squad, marking the first such execution in South Carolina's history. Inmates face a choice between firing squad, lethal injection or the electric chair.

Richard Moore's execution highlighted concerns about jury composition and the fairness of the death penalty. Mikal Mahdi became the second person to choose death by firing squad; witnesses noted expressions of pain during his execution. Freddie Owens' execution by lethal injection resumed the state's use of this method after drug procurement issues had halted executions for years.

Read the stories below.

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A hearse carrying the body of Freddie Owens leaves the Broad River Correctional Institution Friday evening. Owens became the first person executed in South Carolina in 13 years. He was convicted of killing a Greenville County mother of three. By Tracy Glantz

NO. 1: SOUTH CAROLINA EXECUTES FIRST INMATE IN 13 YEARS. FREDDIE OWENS DIES BY LETHAL INJECTION

Last minutes appeals, recanted testimony, allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, questions over the lethal injection fail to stop South Carolina’s first execution in more than a decade. | Published September 20, 2024 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford

Jim Morton and Mary Frances Morton advocate to stop the scheduled execution of Richard Moore during a protest outside Broad River Correctional Institution on Friday Nov. 1, 2024. “This is not a death penalty case”, Jim Morton said, “This is politics.” Morton served as an attorney for Moore during his appeals process. By Tracy Glantz

NO. 2: OVER PLEAS FOR MERCY, SOUTH CAROLINA EXECUTES RICHARD MOORE BY LETHAL INJECTION

Richard Moore, 59, was sentenced to death for the murder of Spartanburg store clerk James Mahoney during a robbery gone wrong. | Published November 1, 2024 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford

South Carolina Department of Corrections witness room viewing the death chamber.

NO. 3: I WITNESSED RICHARD B. MOORE’S EXECUTION IN SC. HERE’S WHAT I EXPERIENCED AND SAW

South Carolina law allows up to three media members to witness an execution who then share what they saw and heard inside the capital punishment facility. | Published November 4, 2024 | Read Full Story by Joseph Bustos

NO. 4: SOUTH CAROLINA EXECUTES MARION BOWMAN JR., FIRST DEATH PENALTY CARRIED OUT IN US THIS YEAR

Marion Bowman Jr. was convicted of shooting and killing a young mother, 21 year-old Kandee Martin, in Dorchester County, South Carolina | Published February 1, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford

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The death chamber inside of the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina contains both the metal chair used in execution by firing squad and the wooden electric chair.

NO. 5: IN A FIRST FOR SOUTH CAROLINA, BRAD SIGMON IS EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD

Brad Sigmon is only the fourth person executed by firing squad in the United States since the death penalty resumed nationwide in 1976. | Published March 7, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford Javon L. Harris

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Protesters outside of the Broad River Road Correctional Institution, which holds South Carolina’s death chamber, hold up signs protesting the execution of Mikal Mahdi on Friday. By Ted Clifford

NO. 6: COP-KILLER CALLED ‘EVIL’ IS SECOND TO DIE BY FIRING SQUAD IN SC

Mikal Mahdi was sentenced to death for the 2004 murder of Orangeburg police captain James Myers during a multi-state crime spree that began in Virginia and also resulted in the death of Christopher Boggs in North Carolina. | Published April 11, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford

Stephen Stanko was sentenced to death for the murders of his girlfriend, Laura Ling, and his 74-year-old friend Henry Turner in April, 2005.

NO. 7: SC KILLER WHO STRANGLED MOM IN FRONT OF DAUGHTER, DIES BY LETHAL INJECTION

Stephen Stanko was sentenced to a rare double death penalties for two murders committed near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina | Published June 13, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford

The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.