Brad Sigmon. Photo:
South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP
A South Carolina man, who recently became the first person in the United States to be executed by a firing squad in 15 years, shared a passionate final plea.
Brad Sigmon was executed by firing squad on Friday, March 7, the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) confirmed in a press conference streamed by the Associated Pressfollowing the execution.
The 67-year-old was pronounced dead at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia at 6:08 p.m. local time, fulfilling his 2002 death sentence for burglary and the 2001 bludgeoning deaths of David and Gladys Larke, his ex-girlfriend’s parents, according to Chrysti Shain, the director of communications for the SCDC.
Sigmon killed the couple in their South Carolina home with a baseball bat and later told authorities that he had planned on killing their daughter as well, according to the AP.
Brad Sigmon, the first person in the U.S. executed by firing squad since 2010.
South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP
Before his death, Sigmon’s attorney read his last statement with witnesses to the execution, which included three relatives of his victims and Sigmon’s spiritual advisor, among other officials and members of the media, per the SCDC.
“I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty,” Sigmon began his final plea. “An eye for an eye was used as justification to the jury for seeking the death penalty. At that time, I was too ignorant to know how wrong that was. Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law, but now live under the New Testament.”
He then went on to quote numerous other Bible scriptures.
Protestors demonstrate outside of Brad Sigmon’s execution by firing squad.
Chris Carlson/AP
Prior to his execution on March 7, Sigmon had a final meal of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits, cheesecake and sweet tea, the SCDC said. The meal was served to him on Wednesday, March 5.
Sigmon chose the firing squad over the two other state-approved methods of execution, lethal injection or the electric chair. Explaining his decision, Sigmon’s lawyers said he thought the chair would “cook him alive” and feared that the fluid and blood sent into his lungs via injection would drown him, the AP reported.
The day before his execution, Sigmon asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to pause his execution because the details of state’s lethal injection method are secret, to no avail, per the outlet. People also protested his execution on March 7, gathering outside of the Columbia prison with signs urging the state to end the death penalty.
There have only been three other people executed via firing squad in the U.S. since 1977, the most recent being Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010, according to the AP.
All three deaths occurred in Utah, and another prisoner from the state, Ralph Menzies, is slated to be next, but his lawyers are currently arguing that his dementia makes him unfit for execution, per the outlet.
