Efficient or barbaric?

To the editor:

The state of South Carolina executed death row prisoner Brad Signon, 67, by firing squad last Friday. According to prosecutors, in 2001 Signon used a baseball bat to murder his ex-girlfriend’s parents.

Three prison employees, all volunteers armed with rifles loaded with live rounds, stood 15 feet from Signon, who was strapped to a chair in the death chamber with a hood over his head and a target over his heart. At 6:05 p.m., each volunteer fired once. Signon was pronounced dead three minutes later.

Since 1977, three other death row prisoners have been executed by firing squad, all in Utah, the last in 2010. The Utah execution team was composed of five members, who were not DOC employees. Each was armed with rifles, although one was loaded with blank rounds in order to disperse personal responsibility and lessen the psychological impact of participating in a state-sanctioned execution.

Of the 27 states that permit the death penalty, South Carolina is one of five that allow execution by firing squad. Signon chose to die by firing squad because he feared being “burned and cooked alive” by electrocution or a “prolonged death” by lethal injection. 

In 1996, Delaware was the last state to execute a condemned prisoner on the gallows.

Death row executions have declined across America from 98 in 1999 to 25 last year. With the many challenges facing lethal injection, more death penalty states will look to allow executions by a fusillade of bullets to avoid those challenges and ensure a quick and efficient death.

Will the firing squad give new life to the death penalty?

Marc Bullaro