A South Carolina death row inmate who is the next person scheduled to be put to death by the state is again requesting that his execution be postponed because his lawyers have not received the autopsy report from the last execution two weeks ago.
Brad Sigmon, 67, whose execution is scheduled for March 7, had made a similar request that the state Supreme Court rejected earlier this month, but his attorneys said in a motion Friday that the situation is now more urgent because of the Feb. 21 deadline to decide his execution method, as he can choose to be killed by lethal injection, firing squad or electric chair.
Sigmon was convicted in the 2001 baseball bat killings of his ex-girlfriend’s parents at their home in Greenville County. The two were in separate rooms, investigators said, and Sigmon went back and forth between the rooms as he beat them both to death.
After killing the couple, Sigmon kidnapped his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint, but she managed to escape from his car. He shot at her as she ran away but missed.
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“I couldn’t have her, I wasn’t going to let anybody else have her,” he said in a confession.
If he does not choose an execution method, Sigmon would be killed by the electric chair, which his attorneys say he does not want to die from. Sigmon plans to choose next week between lethal injection and the firing squad.
He remains hesitant to choose lethal injection because witnesses to the three previous executions in the past several months since the state began using a massive dose of the sedative pentobarbital have said that despite the inmates appearing to stop breathing and moving in only a few minutes, they were not declared dead for at least 20 minutes.
The autopsy report has been released for only one of the executions. Prison officials said Richard Moore was given two large doses of pentobarbital 11 minutes apart on Nov. 1.
A defense expert who reviewed the results reported that fluid found in Moore’s lungs likely made him feel like he was consciously drowning and suffocating during the 23 minutes it took for him to be pronounced dead.
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Another anesthesiologist who reviewed the autopsy for the state said fluid is often found in the lungs after a lethal injection, also arguing that witness accounts and other evidence gave no indication that Moore was conscious beyond 30 seconds after the sedative was first injected.
Prison officials have not disclosed the reason why Moore needed a second massive dose or whether that is part of their normal procedures, pointing to a 2023 shield law that keeps the providers of lethal injection drugs, the identities of members of execution teams and the procedures used a secret.
In a sworn statement issued after an execution date is scheduled, Corrections Director Bryan Stirling certifies that each method is available. He said “lethal injection is available via a single dose of pentobarbital.”
Sigmon’s lawyers have yet to see the autopsy report on Marion Bowman, who was executed by lethal injection Jan. 31. There was no autopsy after the execution of Freddie Owens on Sept. 20 at his request, citing religious reasons due to his Muslim faith.
Additional information is being sought by Sigmon’s lawyers about the lethal injection drug. Requests had been rejected before the previous three executions.
His lawyers also want his execution date postponed until they can review the autopsy results.
Once one of the busiest for executions, South Carolina resumed executions in September after a 13-year pause caused in part by the state having difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs after its supply expired due to pharmaceutical companies’ concerns that they would have to disclose they had sold the drugs to state officials. The state legislature then passed the shield law allowing officials to keep lethal injection drug suppliers private.
The state Supreme Court agreed to set executions at least five weeks apart, but Sigmon’s lawyers, who also represent others on death row, want to extend that time between to 13 weeks so they can fully review previous autopsies and other reports.
South Carolina has executed 46 inmates since the death penalty was resumed in the U.S. in 1976. In the early 2000s, the state was carrying out an average of three executions per year. Only nine states have killed more inmates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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