How rare gruesome execution method not used in 15 years will work following death row inmate's request

An inmate on death row has requested to die by an execution method that hasn't been used in the US in 15 years.

Brad Sigmon, who is scheduled to be executed on 7 March, has been convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 2001.

The 67-year-old murdered William and Gladys Larke with a baseball bat in their Greenville County home after abducting his former girlfriend, Rebecca Barbare, at gunpoint.

His lawyer Gerald 'Bo' King said on Friday (21 February) that he has wants to die by firing squad, with the default execution method being electrocution.

Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last person who was put to death via the firing squad method in Utah in 2010.

How execution by firing squad works

Sigmon has opted to face the firing squad over lethal injection or the electric chair (South Carolina Department of Corrections)

The inmate is seated in a chair with a hood placed over their head.

Once the execution order is read out, the criminal will then make their last ever statement before the process takes place.

Death by firing squad sees three volunteer officers from the Department of Corrections open fire at their chest.

In 2022, the South Carolina Department of Corrections said they had refurbished the execution chamber at Broad River 'to include the capacity to perform an execution by firing squad'.

"The chamber now includes a chair in which inmates will sit if they choose execution by firing squad," it said. "The chair is in a corner of the room away from the current electric chair, which cannot be moved."

The inmate wants to die by firing squad (South Carolina Department of Corrections)

With the addition of bullet-resistant glass being installed between the witness room and the death chamber, the firing squad chair happens to be 'metal with restraints' and is 'surrounded by protective equipment.'

"The chair faces a wall with a rectangular opening 15 feet away," it said.

"A small aim point will be placed over his heart by a member of the execution team.

"After the shots, a doctor will examine the inmate. After the inmate is declared dead, the curtain will be drawn and witnesses escorted out."

Why Brad Sigmon had chosen death by firing squad

Sigmon's lawyer said he was against the lethal injection method because of previous cases in which condemned prisoners remained alive for up to 20 minutes, according to CNN.

“The choice Brad faced today was impossible,” King said.

“Unless he elected lethal injection or the firing squad, he would die in South Carolina’s ancient electric chair, which would burn and cook him alive. But the alternative is just as monstrous.”