Electric chair, firing squad’s legality at S. Carolina court

By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s highest court will hear arguments on whether a newly organized firing squad or the old electric chair are legal ways to execute inmates in the state. The South Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday for and against a lower court ruling that determined executions by electrocution or firing squad are cruel and unusual punishments. South Carolina hasn’t conducted an execution since 2011. Since then, the state’s lethal injection drugs have expired and administrators have been unable to buy more. That led lawmakers in 2021 to pass a bill essentially requiring condemned inmates to be electrocuted unless they choose the firing squad.