Owens v. Stirling
Plaintiffs claim that two execution methods in state’s death penalty law—electrocution and firing squad—violate state constitution’s prohibition on cruel or unusual punishment. A trial court found the law unconstitutional on that basis, as well as for vagueness, improper delegation, and ex post facto for retroactivity. An appeal is pending before the South Carolina Supreme Court which stayed the prior decision while plaintiffs conducted discovery on the availability of a third statutory method—lethal injection.
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South Carolina High Court Hears Challenge to Firing Squads and Electric Chair
States have increasingly turned to antiquated, painful methods of execution in response to shortages of lethal injection drugs.