Lingering questions on South Carolina’s execution methods

This collection of stories explores the ongoing controversies and questions surrounding South Carolina’s death penalty execution methods.

One story discusses the inconsistency of who receives the death penalty, comparing the cases of Alex Murdaugh and Richard Moore. Another article highlights the Department of Justice’s warning about the potential for unnecessary suffering caused by the drug pentobarbital in executions. Additional articles reveal alarming claims about the state’s execution methods, such as the alleged intention to miss during firing squad executions or the use of twice the amount of lethal dose of pentobarbital. Questions arise from autopsy reports showing fluid in the lungs of executed inmates, suggesting cruel and painful deaths. Read the stories below.

South Carolina Department of Corrections death chamber with the gurney used in lethal injections .

NO. 1: WHY DO ALEX MURDAUGH, OTHERS ESCAPE THE DEATH PENALTY IN SC WHILE RICHARD MOORE DOESN’T?

South Carolina’s death penalty law is unevenly applied. Some horrific killers get life sentences, while those who commit unplanned killings are executed. Is it justice? | Published October 31, 2024 | Read Full Story by John Monk

NO. 2: DRUG USED IN SC’S EXECUTIONS MIGHT CAUSE UNNECESSARY PAIN, SUFFERING, JUSTICE DEPT. WARNS

Both the federal government and South Carolina carry out the lethal injections using a single drug, pentobarbital, a powerful sedative that some experts warn causes extreme pain and suffering when injected. | Published February 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford

NO. 3: AUTOPSY REVEALS THAT SECOND SOUTH CAROLINA DEATH ROW INMATE DIED WITH FLUID IN HIS LUNGS

The South Carolina Department of Corrections uses a lethal injection protocol that was suspended by the Department of Justice over concerns that it might cause unnecessary pain and suffering. | Published March 14, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford

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, left, and the wooden electric chair, right.

NO. 4: SOMEONE’S NOT TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA’S DEATH PENALTY | OPINION

Opinion editor Matthew T. Hall writes that the state of South Carolina says everything went according to plan in its last execution, but that’s not the case. | Published May 13, 2025 | Read Full Story by Matthew T. Hall

Mikal Mahdi is shown at age 40 at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia in 2023.

NO. 5: 2 SC LEGISLATORS SEEK INVESTIGATION INTO CLAIM OF ‘BOTCHED’ FIRING SQUAD

Cop-killer Mikal Mahdi yelled in pain when he was shot inside of the state’s death chamber on April 11. He was executed for the murder of an Orangeburg police captain. | Published May 13, 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. 6: SC FIRING SQUAD ‘INTENDED TO MISS,’ CAUSE INMATE ‘EXTREME SUFFERING,’ SUIT SAYS

Stephen Stanko is hoping a South Carolina federal judge will pause his upcoming execution following claims by his attorneys that that a previous execution by firing squad was botched | Published June 9, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ted Clifford

NO. 7: SC EXECUTIONERS USE TWICE THE DOSE OF LETHAL DRUG THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED

The South Carolina Department of Correction’s secret lethal injection protocols call for a second, massive dose of deadly sedative pentobarbital ten minutes into the execution. | Published June 11, 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.