Posted on 05/17/2021 7:39:28 AM PDT by RandFan
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed a bill into law on Friday requiring death row inmates to choose between a firing squad or the electric chair if lethal injections are not available in an effort to restart executions after a decade-long pause, The Associated Press reports.
The AP reports that the legislation was the first bill McMaster signed of the 50 bills that were sent to his desk last Thursday. The bill requires that lethal injection be used if South Carolina has the necessary drugs, but forces inmates to choose between a firing squad and the electric chair if lethal injection is not possible.
South Carolina's last execution took place in May of 2010, the AP notes, and its batch of lethal injection drugs expired in 2013. Around this same period, pharmaceutical companies began refusing to sell the drugs necessary to perform lethal injections.
Prosecutors have said that three death row inmates who have exhausted all their appeals cannot be executed because they chose lethal injection over the electric chair, according to the AP. Thus, their executions cannot take place under previous legislation as long as the drugs are not available in the state.
It is currently unclear how long it will take for the bill to go into effect. South Carolina prison officials are currently conducting research into how other states such as Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah use firing squads.
The AP reports that lawyers for the three men set to be executed are considering suing South Carolina over the new law.
“These are execution methods that previously were replaced by lethal injection, which is considered more humane, and it makes South Carolina the only state going back to the less humane execution methods,” Lindsey Vann of the nonprofit Justice 360 told the AP.
The news service added that several Republicans in the South Carolina state House voted against the bill after noting the state had just months prior approved a bill outlawing almost all abortions under the argument that all life is sacred.
Supporters of the firing squad bill argue that execution is still legal in the state and the families of the victims of those on death row should be considered.
Both work for me! How about a firing squad as you’re being electrocuted?
Third choice is a COVID-19 vaccination.
It shouldn’t be up to them. Their freedom of choice has been taken away. The victims family should get to choose. Or me.
Who the hell wouldn’t take the bullet in that situation?
Gee, if they need help, have gun will travel...attribution to Richard Boone.
The South Carolina law should have specified public hanging as the method of execution for those tried, convicted, and sentenced for giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the state.
Fourth is a three-way with Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.
Another dumb question: Cows are killed quickly and in large numbers to make hamburgers. Why not use whatever gizmo is used on the cows on murderers?
What about hanging?
+1
Curly Stooge was asked if he wanted to be burned at the stake or have his head cut off.
He opted for the burning. Moe asked him why.
Curly replied, “I’d rather have a hot stake than a cold chop.”
Washington used to give a choice of hanging or lethal injection.
The state supreme court struck down the death penalty because they said it was cruel to make then choose.
They had to change the law.
Yeah, why not the bullet. Lot cheaper 3 rifles 3 shells, with one a blank. Besides the smell of burnt hair is pretty nauseating.
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I don't understand why lack of lethal injections is such a problem. Injection with a massive quantity of morphine of fentanyl should do the job nicely.
That is fine. I have no issue with giving the condemned a choice of which poison to use, just so long as the end result is the same and he leaves the room horizontally.
That is fine. I have no issue with giving the condemned a choice of which poison to use, just so long as the end result is the same and he leaves the room horizontally.
We know exactly how to do executions in such a way that the entire canard of 'cruel and unusual punishment' doesn't come into the equation.
You simply have an air-tight room into which the condemned is taken and strapped to a gurney or chair. The air in the room is replaced with pure nitrogen, a gas that is already 78% of every single breath you take. Wait 15 minutes, then pump a normal mix of air into the room, then wheel out the corpse. The condemned will be standing before Satan or God before he even realizes he is dead.
Nitrogen suffocation does not trigger the asphyxiation response. It is CO2 buildup that does that. Industrial sites where there is a chance of nitrogen build-up are very aware of the fact that people can die in such an environment without even realizing that anything at all was wrong. OSHA has tons of regulations surrounding this issue.
This solution is simple, cheap, involves no poisons or medications (which implicate the Hippocratic oath). The air from the room can be safely vented straight into the atmosphere.
It may not be as emotionally satisfying as some methods of execution, but it is effective and painless. The person is removed from this earth, and will deal with his ultimate fate post haste.
Bringing in things like firing squads, or electrocution will simply cloud the issue. I prefer for it to be a clean question of 'does the state have the power/duty to kill for some crimes'? If so, be civilized about it. If not, then get rid of the practice entirely. Clouding up the issue with the specter of firing squads or the electric chair throws huge wrenches into the process that it is way past time for us to get past.
Sorry. The Constitution precludes cruel and unusual punishment.
That doesn’t bring much comfort.
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