Posted on 11/15/2025 12:25:01 AM PST by Morgana
A South Carolina mass killer was executed by firing squad on Friday after his last-ditch attempt to avoid the death penalty was rejected.
Stephen Bryant, 44, was shot by three volunteers with rifles shortly after 6pm, more than 20 years after he killed three people during a vicious crime spree.
Residents in Sumter County were left terrified by his eight day rampage, which saw him taunt police by writing a message in his victim's blood.
Days before his execution, Bryant petitioned the South Carolina Supreme Court to stay his death penalty as he sought to blame his sickening crimes on brain damage caused by his mother drinking and doing drugs while pregnant with him.
But his fate was sealed as the court ruled that even if Bryant was found to suffer Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, it would not change his death sentence.
He became the third person in South Carolina to die by firing squad this year, a method that he chose due to issues obtaining lethal injection drugs. He also had the option to die by the electric chair.
Bryant chose the firing squad, which saw three volunteers shoot him in the heart from a distance of around 15 feet.
The firing squad method sparked controversy earlier this year after witnesses to the execution of killer Mikal Mahdi, 42, said he suffered excruciating pain when the shooters missed his heart.
Bryant had languished on death row since 2008, when he pleaded guilty to shooting four men, three fatally, in an eight-day crime spree in 2004.
Although Bryant admitted to killing three men, his death sentence was the result of just one carried out during the spree, the murder of Willard 'TJ' Tietjen, 62, who Bryant ambushed and killed in his remote home in Sumter County.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Evil triple murderer
Bet not
When Utah offed Gary Gilmore they used a squad of seven. One random rifle held a blank round so each shooter could tell himself he wasn’t the actual kill shot.
Did he tell anyone what he wanted on his Tombstone?
The Soviets had an excellent method, maybe the Russians still use it. Prisoners were never told when death was coming—no special meals or padres. Death row was a cell with a drain in the middle of the floor. One morning, the guards came in, made you kneel over the drain, and blew your brains out. Remove the body, hose down the room for the next occupant. I once read they had people on death row for extended periods of time until one day the decision was made to execute them the next morning. Very efficient if it was truly what they did.
Article talks of the previously executed dude who suffered. He did , for over a minute because the executioners missed his heart. I call that JUSTICE.
He murdered THREE people, one a police officer and the other some poor slob making minimum wage at a gas station.
Honestly he deserved to suffer more.
My heart goes out to the victims (and victimized loved one’s) of these murderers. To him??? No.
One less DemonRAT mass killer out there.
One victim sent three family members to attend the execution.
In China they charge the family for the cost of the bullet.
spjnk? Some People Just Never Know?
never saw that acronym before... is that what you meant?
He lived to tell about it.
No, he didn't! "Witnesses to the execution" said that he suffered.
Regard,
I donk know what a SPJNK is but there are a number of dangerous sociopaths running around that need locking up or more.
That's the biggest issue with these death penalty cases - they drag on for 20 or more years, emotionally taxing the loved ones of the victims, dragging them repeatedly back into court.
If one of my loved ones were the victim of this cold blooded killer, I would volunteer to be one of the shooters.
I’m not suggesting cruel and unusual.
I’m just tired of the whining about the poor murderer’s feelings. A consideration NOBODY is giving his victims.
You sound like someone I’d get along well with.
That should have been a question.
He lived to tell about it???
My mistake in not framing that correctly.
The lawyers who filed that last second appeal should has been lined up beside him.
Some People Just Need Killing; I got that from a fellow Freeper several years ago.
the famous john wayne quote?
“The only time you have to turn your check is to a fellow Christian.”
If I have to turn my cheek they are not Christian.
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