Electric chair executions halted as court says killers must get firing squad option
The executions of two inmates have been blocked by a US court, who ruled they must get the choice to die by firing squad.
The South Carolina supreme court halted the executions of Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens, ruling that officials needed to put together a firing squad to give them the option of how to be killed.
Sigmon, 63, was scheduled to be executed using the electric chair on Friday, the first use of capital punishment in the state in a decade.
Sigmon was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat. Pic AP
He was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in 2002.
Owen’s electric chair execution was set for 25 June, having been convicted of murdering a store worker during a robbery in 1999.
The state recently changed its capital punishment law to address a shortage of lethal injection drugs.
Freddie Owens was convicted of murder during a robbery in 1999. Pic AP
It now forces death row inmates to choose between electrocution or firing squad if the drugs are unavailable.
The law aimed to restart the state’s executions after a 10-year pause caused by its inability to produce the lethal injection.
Prisons officials had previously said they could not get hold of the drugs and had yet to put together a firing squad, leaving the 109-year-old electric chair as the only option.
“The department is moving ahead with creating policies and procedures for a firing squad,” said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Chrysti Shain after the court ruling.
“We are looking to other states for guidance through this process. We will notify the court when a firing squad becomes an option for executions.”
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Lawyers for the men said electrocution was cruel and unusual and that the new law moves the state toward less humane execution methods.
They said the men had the right to die by lethal injection – the method both chose – and that the state hadn’t exhausted all methods to acquire the drugs.
Lawyers for the state maintained that prison officials were simply carrying out the law and that the US Supreme Court had never found electrocution to be unconstitutional.
South Carolina is one of eight states to still use the electric chair and four to allow a firing squad, according to the Washington-based non-profit Death Penalty Information Center.
South Carolina’s last execution took place in 2011 and its batch of lethal injection drugs expired two years later.
There are 37 men on the state’s death row.
Death penalty opponents called for South Carolina to scrap capital punishment altogether.
Abraham Bonowitz, director of the national group Death Penalty Action, said he was grateful the execution plans were blocked but felt a bigger change was needed.
“It’s always good news when executions are put on hold, but if the conversation is only about how we kill our prisoners, rather than if the state should have this power, something is very, very wrong,” he said.
“All of this is unnecessary and a costly waste of taxpayer dollars that could be better supporting the needs of all victims of violent crime.”
At a rally on Wednesday, people marked the anniversary of the electrocution of 14-year-old George Stinney, the youngest person executed in America in the 20th century.
Stinney was still a teenager when he was sent to South Carolina’s electric chair after a one-day trial in 1944 in connection with the killings of two white girls.
A judge threw out the black teenager’s conviction in 2014.
US
Donald Trump pledges Mars exploration as he returns to site of assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania
Donald Trump has returned to the site where he survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania – and opened with a joke.
“Thank you,” he told a large crowd, reportedly in the tens of thousands. “A very big thank you. We love Pennsylvania, and, as I was saying…” – which sparked cheers from the audience.
He added: “I return to Butler to deliver a simple message… We are going to make America great again, we are going to win the election.”
Discussing the assassination attempt, Mr Trump said the gunman “aimed to silence me and the MAGA movement”.
He continued: “For 16 seconds, time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil. That villain did not succeed.”
Discussing his campaign for the White House, he promised to halve energy prices, pledged large tax cuts, and claimed his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, is strongly left wing.
He also promised that the US will “reach Mars” before the end of his second term, should he be re-elected, and pledged “no men in women’s sports”.
Donald Trump has returned to Butler, Pennsylvania. Pic: Reuters
Shortly after Mr Trump started speaking the crowd chanted “Corey”, referencing firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died as he shielded his family from the gunfire on 13 July.
At 6.11pm, the time when shots rang out, Mr Trump called for a moment of silence. A bell tolled four times, once for each of the four victims, including him.
Some in the crowd chanted “fight, fight, fight” – the slogan Mr Trump used to rally his followers moments after he was shot.
He later repeated the phrase himself, while his vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, said the former president “took a bullet for democracy”.
Vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Elon Musk. Pic: Reuters
There was a pause while a member of the crowd was treated by medics – and a spontaneous rendition of the American national anthem.
Elon Musk, the tycoon behind Tesla and SpaceX, took to the stage briefly and urged people to register to vote.
The entrepreneur said there is no truer test than courage under fire. In an apparent reference to Joe Biden, he said the US previously had one presidential candidate who “couldn’t climb a flight of stairs”, and another who shouted “fight, fight, fight”.
In addition, he claimed Mr Trump must win next month’s presidential election “to preserve the constitution” and to “preserve democracy in America”.
“This is a must-win situation,” Mr Musk said.
Mr Trump was back at Butler Farm Show grounds – the location where a bullet appeared to hit his ear in July.
He was whisked off stage with blood dripping across his face in one of the defining images of this year’s campaign.
Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire from an unsecured rooftop before being fatally shot.
Pic: AP
His motive for the shooting is still unknown. The incident raised serious questions about security failures within the Secret Service.
Its director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned less than two weeks after the shooting.
Read more:
Trump v Harris – how their records compare
Melania Trump speaks out on abortion rights
How does Trump keep his support so strong?
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
A second attempt was allegedly made on Mr Trump’s life last month when a gunman hid undetected for nearly 12 hours at the former president’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, with plans to kill him, prosecutors have said.
The alleged gunman was stopped by a Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of the former president.
It was always probable that Donald Trump would return to Butler; that he would want to go back to the place where he almost died.
That moment exactly twelve weeks ago was more than a near-death experience. For his most loyal supporters, it underlined the increasingly divine status that he carries.
In the crowd, Trump signs had been redesigned: “Trump” replaced with “Jesus”. One supporter arrived pulling a life-sized crucifix.
As always, the choreography was, for the audience, pitch-perfect. The Top Gun theme tune filled the Pennsylvania countryside as his plane, branded TRUMP, flew low overhead.
The fly-past prompted huge cheers. Photographers on board captured the huge crowd below at the same showground where the assassination attempt had jolted this extraordinary election campaign back in July.
He walked on to the same stage, but this time with so much more security, to a podium flanked on three sides with bulletproof glass.
“As I was saying…,” he said, picking up from that July interruption. He pointed up to the same chart he’d turned to look at back then; the head tilt which had saved his life.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Pic: AP
It began as an evening of reflection. It was a night to remember the life of Corey Comperatore, the man who died from the shots which skimmed the former president.
“We’re here for a reason, and that’s to win… and to honour Corey. But Corey wants us to win too,” he said.
There was a moment of silence, quickly filled with an operatic rendition of Ave Maria. It was poignant but purposely, overtly political, too.
And then came the other moment which set this rally apart from all the rest. Elon Musk, the tech billionaire with such huge online influence, seemed almost giddy to be there. He jumped onto the stage, pumping the air with child-like enthusiasm.
The core message from the world’s richest man to the people of a town with an average salary a third below the national average was to get out and vote. “Make sure you’re registered,” he said, suggesting a campaign nervous about turnout.
“The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech,” he said. “They want to take away your right to bear arms. They want to take away your right to vote effectively.”
Pic: Reuters
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None of that is true, but it seems that doesn’t matter for a man once apolitical but now full throttle for Trump.
The shooting back in July, and Mr Trump’s remarkable reaction to it, supercharged his campaign. But it was a campaign then against Joe Biden.
Now Kamala Harris is his opponent and the polls have tightened considerably and so the rally fell into a familiar meandering rhythm. In trademark form he shuttled through the push-button issues and more in single sentences.
“All of the migrants coming in are going on between Medicare, social security, other programmes, and nobody is able to afford it, and I will settle the war in Ukraine, I will end the chaos in the Middle East and I will prevent, I promise you, World War Three; we’re not going to have World War Three, and right now we’re very close to having it. We will lead the world in space exploration – thank you, Elon – we will lead the world in military and we will reach Mars before the end of my term,” he said.
Here they see him as a living martyr. It is why he came back; to revive that moment of defiance in a must-win state, in a campaign so close and with just a month to run.
US
Donald Trump pledges Mars exploration as he returns to site of assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania
Donald Trump has returned to the site where he survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania – and opened with a joke.
“Thank you,” he told a large crowd, reportedly in the tens of thousands. “A very big thank you. We love Pennsylvania, and, as I was saying…” – which sparked cheers from the audience.
He added: “I return to Butler to deliver a simple message… We are going to make America great again, we are going to win the election.”
Discussing the assassination attempt, Mr Trump said the gunman “aimed to silence me and the MAGA movement”.
He continued: “For 16 seconds, time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil. That villain did not succeed.”
Discussing his campaign for the White House, he promised to cut energy prices in half, pledged large tax cuts, and claimed his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, is strongly left wing.
He also promised to “reach Mars” before the end of his second term, should he be re-elected, and pledged “no men in women’s sports”.
Elon Musk joined Donald Trump on stage. Pic: Reuters
Shortly after Mr Trump started speaking, the crowd began chanting “Corey”, referencing firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died as he shielded his family from the gunfire.
At 6.11pm, the time when shots rang out on 13 July, Mr Trump called for a moment of silence. A bell tolled four times, once for each of the four victims, including him.
Some in the crowd chanted “fight, fight, fight” – the slogan Mr Trump used to rally his followers moments after he was shot.
He later repeated the phrase himself, while his vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, said the former president “took a bullet for democracy”.
Vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Elon Musk. Pic: Reuters
There was a pause while a member of the crowd was treated by medics – and a spontaneous rendition of the American national anthem.
Elon Musk, the tycoon behind Tesla and SpaceX, took to the stage briefly and urged people to register to vote.
The entrepreneur said there is no truer test than courage under fire. In an apparent reference to Joe Biden, he said the US previously had one presidential candidate who “couldn’t climb a flight of stairs”, and another who shouted “fight, fight, fight”.
In addition, he claimed Mr Trump must win next month’s presidential election “to preserve the constitution” and to “preserve democracy in America”.
“This is a must-win situation,” Mr Musk said.
Pic: AP
Mr Trump was back at Butler Farm Show grounds – the location where a bullet appeared to hit his ear in July.
He was whisked off stage with blood dripping across his face in one of the defining images of this year’s campaign.
Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire from an unsecured rooftop before being fatally shot.
His motive for the shooting is still unknown. The incident raised serious questions about security failures within the Secret Service.
Its director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned less than two weeks after the shooting.
Read more:
Trump v Harris – how their records compare
Melania Trump speaks out on abortion rights
How does Trump keep his support so strong?
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
A second attempt was allegedly made on Mr Trump’s life last month when a gunman hid undetected for nearly 12 hours at the former president’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, with plans to kill him, prosecutors have said.
The alleged gunman was stopped by a Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of the former president.
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