South Carolina execution method debate: 12 key perspectives

This collection of columns examines the debate in South Carolina over methods of execution for death row inmates. The articles discuss the involvement of the Newman family, with Clifton presiding over trials of inmates now on death row and Jocelyn challenging the constitutionality of certain methods.

A firing squad execution in South Carolina raises questions about the state's procedures, with experts weighing in on their effectiveness compared to other methods. Other pieces highlight the secrecy surrounding execution protocols and the impact on those involved in the process, including spiritual advisors and witnesses.

Read the columns below.

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The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday, October 19, 2022. By Joshua Boucher

NO. 1: DON’T OVERLOOK THIS MIDLANDS FAMILY OF JUDGES WHEN DISCUSSING THE DEATH PENALTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA | OPINION

Father-daughter duo Clifton and Jocelyn Newman are well-respected Circuit Court judges whose service has put them front and center in a complex debate. | Published August 1, 2024 | Read Full Story by Matthew T. Hall

Freddie Owens, Richard Moore and Brad Sigmon, currently on death row, had their executions stayed after South Carolina ran out of lethal injection drugs. In 2021, the executions of Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens, who legally changed his name to Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah, were delayed again when the S.C. Supreme Court ruled the Department of Corrections needed to offer the firing squad as an alternative method to the electric chair so the men could have a choice in the manner of their death.

NO. 2: I AM CALLED TO BE A SPIRITUAL ADVISOR FOR INMATES BUT HAUNTED BY THEIR EXECUTIONS | OPINION

South Carolina is set to execute its first death row inmate since 2011, but its spiritual advisors are not prepared to see someone killed before them. | Published September 5, 2024 | Read Full Story by Jeff Hood

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

NO. 3: WHY I PRAY FOR SOUTH CAROLINA’S DEATH ROW PRISONERS EVERY TIME ONE IS EXECUTED | OPINION

South Carolina executed death row inmates on Sept. 20 and Nov. 1 and will execute a third on Friday. Deana Lattanzio shares why she prays for them. | Published January 30, 2025 | Read Full Story by Deana Lattanzio

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A photo of the South Carolina Department of Corrections’ renovated capital punishment facility as seen from the witness room at the agency’s Broad River Road complex in Columbia, S.C. The firing squad chair is shown on the left, uncovered. The covered chair is the electric chair, which does not move.

NO. 4: BY KILLING BRAD SIGMON BY FIRING SQUAD, SOUTH CAROLINA WILL REVERT TO OUR UNCIVILIZED ROOTS | OPINION

“Strapping a man to a chair and shooting him is murder,” columnist Issac J. Bailey writes. “It’s not justice even if it’s supposedly done in the name of the government.” | Published February 26, 2025 | Read Full Story by Issac J. Bailey

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

NO. 5: AS SOUTH CAROLINA PREPARES FOR A FIRING SQUAD EXECUTION, HERE ARE HOW MANY HAVE GONE WRONG

Opinion editor Matthew T. Hall explores the history of firing squads in the U.S. ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Brad Sigmon by bullet March 7. | Published February 27, 2025 | Read Full Story by Matthew T. Hall

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A hearse carries the body of killer Pee Wee Gaskins from the Broad River Correctional Institution after Gaskins was executed in the state’s electric chair. By Jamie Francis

NO. 6: I PROPOSED SOUTH CAROLINA USE FIRING SQUAD EXECUTIONS. HERE’S WHAT I THINK NOW. | OPINION

Former state Sen. Dick Harpootlian suggested the idea of letting death row inmates choose to die by firing squad in 2021. With the first prisoner set to be executed by one, he shares his thinking now. | Published March 5, 2025 | Read Full Story by Dick Harpootlian

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Left to right, Freddie Owens, Richard Moore, Marion Bowman Jr. and Brad Sigmond have been executed since South Carolina resumed the death penalty in september 2024. By Provided Images

NO. 7: SOUTH CAROLINA IS TOO SECRETIVE ABOUT ITS EXECUTIONS. HERE’S WHAT IT NEEDS TO DO | OPINION

No state has had more executions since September than South Carolina. That’s one reason why opinion editor Matthew T. Hall says it needs to be more transparent about them in his new column. | Published March 24, 2025 | Read Full Story by Matthew T. Hall

Special Prosecutor David Pascoe By File Photo

NO. 8: I PROSECUTED MIKAL MAHDI IN SOUTH CAROLINA. THIS IS WHY I SOUGHT THE DEATH PENALTY | OPINION

South Carolina plans to execute death row inmate Mikal Mahdi April 11. Here’s how Solicitor David Pascoe argued for the death penalty in 2006. | Published April 2, 2025 | Read Full Story by David Pascoe

Mikal Mahdi was sentenced to death in 2006 for the murder of an off-duty Orangeburg police captain. Mahdi was in the middle of a multi-state crime spree during which he also killed a convenience store clerk in North Carolina when he committed the murder.

NO. 9: I WAS MIKAL MAHDI’S THIRD-GRADE TEACHER. SOUTH CAROLINA SHOULD SPARE HIM FROM THE DEATH PENALTY | OPINION

Retired educator turned pastor Myra Harris writes that sparing Mikal Mahdi would send “a powerful message to all of the other wounded children like him: We will never stop caring for you.” | Published April 2, 2025 | Read Full Story by Myra Harris

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Rev. Hillary Taylor, executive director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, speaks at the South Carolina State House and asks Gov. Henry McMaster to grant clemency to Khalil Allah, formerly known as Freddie Owens, and reduce his death sentence to life in prison on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. By Joshua Boucher

NO. 10: END THE DEATH PENALTY. WE NEED MORAL LEADERSHIP AND THESE PUBLIC SAFETY POLICIES INSTEAD | OPINION

As South Carolina prepares for its fifth execution in seven months, Rev. Hillary Taylor, executive director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, writes that there’s another way. | Published April 2, 2025 | Read Full Story by Hillary Taylor

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the impacts 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi, who spent months in solitary as a young man.

NO. 11: I SPENT 16 YEARS IN SOLITARY IN SOUTH CAROLINA. THIS IS WHAT IT DID TO ME. | OPINION

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the effects 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi, who spent months in solitary as a young man. | Published April 10, 2025 | Read Full Story by Randy Poindexter

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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, left, and the wooden electric chair, right.

NO. 12: 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

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.