Man leaves S Carolina death row as firing squad trial starts

By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A trial is starting in South Carolina where lawyers for several death row prisoners are arguing the electric chair – as well as the newly established, but so far unused, firing squad – are cruel and unusual punishments. South Carolina hasn’t executed anyone since 2011 because the state’s lethal injection drugs expired and pharmacies have refused to sell it more. The General Assembly passed a law in 2021 requiring condemned inmates to choose between electrocution or firing squad if the lethal injection drugs weren’t available. Four prisoners either out or nearly out of appeals to their death sentences sued and their execution dates were postponed.