On Wednesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the Palmetto State’s death penalty law – allowing the use of methods including the electric chair, lethal injection – and a firing squad.
The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state’s death penalty, which now includes a firing squad as well as lethal injection and the electric chair, is legal.
All five justices agreed with at least part of the ruling, opening the door to restart executions in a state that hasn’t put an inmate to death since 2011. But two of the justices said they felt the firing squad was not a legal way to kill an inmate and one of them felt the electric chair is a cruel and unusual punishment.
The death penalty law is legal because instead of seeking to inflict pain, the choice between the three execution methods makes it appear that lawmakers are genuinely against inflicting…
