For the first time in 15 years, a death row inmate in America could be executed by firing squad.
The South Carolina Supreme Court has approved the execution of Brad Zigmon, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for killing his ex-girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat in their home the year before.
The court, however, expressed concern about the impression it would have on witnesses who, by law, must be present at the execution.
Zygmon's lawyers say he chose death by firing squad, faced with an impossible choice between execution methods – whether to choose a violent death by shooting or risk a slower death by lethal injection.
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What happens during an execution by firing squad?
South Carolina has executed more than 40 prisoners using the electric chair or lethal injection since 1985.
A law allowing the use of firing squads in executions in this state was passed in 2021.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center – a US human rights organization – this law was motivated in part by the state's inability to secure the ingredients for lethal injections.
Shortly after the law was passed, the South Carolina Department of Corrections upgraded its infrastructure to allow it to carry out executions by firing squad.
The same room where prisoners were killed by lethal injection – known as the death chamber – will now be used for executions by firing squad.
The ministry explained the procedure at the time of the execution, which should be attended by witnesses.
"The prisoner will wear a prison uniform and will be escorted to a cell. The prisoner will then be given the opportunity to make a final statement."
Zygmon will then be tied to a chair in the death chamber and a hood will be pulled over his head, and a target placed over his heart.
"After the prison warden reads the order to carry out the execution, the team will open fire. After the shots, the doctor will examine the prisoner."
"Once the prisoner is pronounced dead, the curtain will be drawn and the witnesses will be escorted out. The members of the firing squad are volunteer workers at SCDC," it added.
Eyewitnesses: Who is in the "death chamber"?
Journalists, lawyers and family members of the victim usually sit in an area next to the 'death chamber' to watch the execution from the other side of a glass partition.
Witnesses should be able to see Zygmon until he is declared dead.
Drew Swift, a firearms instructor who owns a firearms training academy in McLean, South Carolina, expressed concern about this method of execution to American broadcaster NPR.
"It will be traumatic."
"And if three shots go to the same targeted spot, it's going to be one very big hole. There's going to be a lot of blood," Swift said.
There is also a risk of bullets ricocheting off people or furniture, or of the release of lead particles and noxious fumes if the execution is carried out from inside in a relatively confined space.
Likewise, hearing damage could occur to those watching the firing squad.
NPR reported that SCDC did not respond to these complaints.
Origin of shooting deaths
There have been three executions by firing squad in America since 1977 — all of which took place in Utah — the last of which was carried out in 2010.
But death by shooting has a long history in the United States.
At least 185 people were executed by firing squad during the Civil War, according to Christopher Q. Kalter in an article published in the Cleveland State Law Review.
Mark Smith, a history professor at the University of South Carolina, said firing squads were used by both sides in the Civil War to create a "public spectacle, a vision of terror" to keep soldiers obedient.
"A man could occasionally be sitting on his own coffin or blindfolded, being shot at by six or seven men, one of whom had a blank in the barrel," said Professor Smith.
"These were events intended to shock, and they succeeded."
Since 1608, at least 144 civilians have been executed by firing squad, almost all in Utah.
Global scenario
Amnesty International says that 144 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
However, 2023 executions were carried out in 1.153, according to data collected by Amnesty.
That figure does not include China, which is believed to execute thousands of people each year.
Countries that carry out the death penalty use hanging, lethal injection, the electric chair, beheading, and shooting.
Amnesty says at least eight countries executed people by firing squad in 2020.
These are China, Iran, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Taiwan and Yemen.
Justin Mazzola, deputy research director for Amnesty International, said that execution by firing squad is "an attempt to keep alive a punishment that should have been consigned to history long ago."
"There is no humane way for a state to kill an individual. Whether by shooting, lethal injection, hanging, strangulation or the electric chair, the death penalty is ultimately a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that is a symptom of violence, not its solution," he said.
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