Judge to decide if firing squad or electric chair is cruel

Attorneys for four death row inmates argue that the inmates would feel terrible pain whether their bodies were “cooking” by electricity or they died by a bullet. A South Carolina judge has 30 days to make a ruling.

South Carolina inmate picks firing squad over electric chair

A South Carolina prisoner scheduled to be the first man executed in the state in more than a decade has decided to die by firing squad rather than in the electric chair later this month, according to court documents filed Friday.

Firing-squad executions get the green light in South Carolina

South Carolina has given the green light to firing-squad executions, a method codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out death sentences because of the state’s inability to procure lethal injection drugs.