COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) — The State of South Carolina is moving forward with plans to execute two death row inmates this month.
One of those executions is scheduled for this Friday.
It is for 63-year-old Brad Sigmon, who is slated to die by electric chair, coming after his defense attorneys exhausted all appeals with the circuit court.
It will be the state’s first execution in a decade.
Sigmon was convicted of killing David and Gladys Larke in Greenville County in 2002.
Department of Corrections staff told WACH FOX News Tuesday that a team of volunteers trains year-round to prepare for executions and the electric chair is tested and maintained for the process.
Alli Sullivan with Death Penalty Action has talked with Sigmon several times and is up in arms.
“From our conversations that we had, [Sigmon] was extremely respectful and courteous and kind. You can tell that he is sorry for what he did,” said Sullivan.
Governor McMaster signed the state’s new death penalty bill into law last month, tweeting that it would provide victims’ families closure.
When asked about it Tuesday – McMaster told WACH FOX News that “the wheels of justice continue to turn.”
However, opposition to the measure is growing.
“It doesn’t allow them to change, it doesn’t allow them to redeem themselves,” Sullivan said.
Tiffany James, who serves as president of the National Action Network of Columbia also spoke out against the death penalty.
“We believe that the state does not have the right to commit murder,” said James. “If we do not come together to discuss alternative solutions, then the only alternative the state will feel like they have is the death penalty.”
It’s something some lawmakers are even jumping behind.
“This is an unjust law that most of my colleagues voted for. It feels like we’re moving backwards in a state that has so much promise for forward moving,” said SC state representative JA Moore. “It’s a miscarriage of justice is kind of how I feel about it.”
A second inmate – Freddie Owens is scheduled to be executed on June 25th.
Opponents say they now plan to meet at the State House to rally for alternatives for death row inmates, including life in prison without parole.
Source: wach.com, Simone Jameson, June 15, 2021
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
