The Supreme Court denied the final ditch efforts of death row inmates to avoid executions Friday night, clearing the path of their first execution by firing squads in the United States in 15 years.
Convicted in 2002 for murdering the parents of an ex-girlfriend, Brad Sigmon (67), chose the firing squad method in place of electric shock and fatal injections.
The judge rejected his emergency motion to stop his imminent enforcement. Easy order Without a prominent opponent.
The order paves the way for the execution of the shooting squad scheduled for 6pm on Friday night, unless Sigmon receives a last minute reprieve from Governor Henry McMaster (R), who signed the law allowing shooting squads to become the way of execution again.
The ju judge sentenced Sigmon to death after confessing that he had murdered David and Gladys Lark, the parents of Sigmon's ex-girlfriend Rebecca Barbare. Sigmon attacks his parents with bats at home multiple times, and tries to fire Barbare, who later escapes.
His conviction and sentence are upheld by several courts, including a South Carolina top court. Sigmon's latest appeal revolved around the allegations that the state's “compressed election timeline and arbitrary denial of information” violated his legitimate process rights.
“If his execution does not last, he will die without a reasonable opportunity to review his claims and exercise the awarded rights of the state choosing the most inhumane execution method he can use,” Sigmon's public advocate wrote in the application.
The court's application said the state's attorney general's office urged the High Court to refuse Sigmon's application and had waited until the eve of his execution to raise his argument.
“Sigmon brutally murdered the parents of his ex-girlfriend 20 years ago. He has since sued allegations, including the possibility that he would be executed for the past four years. If the court gives him more delays, he always has more claims. But at some point, the delay must end,” the state wrote.
The Supreme Court rarely holds out death row inmates from execution. Since the start of its term in October, the entire court has rejected 10 such emergency applications.
However, regarding the regular docket, the court agreed to give death row inmate Richard Grossip a new trial later last month after Oklahoma was not standing behind the charges because he withheld evidence.
