Firing-squad executions get the greenlight in South Carolina

By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina has given the greenlight to firing-squad executions. The method was codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out the death sentence over the state’s inability to procure lethal injection drugs. State prison officials said Friday that renovations have been completed on the death chamber in Columbia to allow for a firing squad. Legislation that took effect last May made the electric chair the state’s primary means of execution while giving inmates the option of death by firing squad or lethal injection, if those methods are available. South Carolina’s last execution took place in 2011.