Lenten Campaign 2025
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The use of the firing squad as a method of execution has “no place in a civilized society,” the bishop of Charleston, South Carolina, said in a statement ahead of Friday’s execution of Brad Sigmon.
“I call upon Gov. Henry McMaster and all South Carolina officials to halt this execution and to work toward a system of justice that respects the dignity of every human life. Let us choose life, mercy, and hope over vengeance and death,” said Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS, in a statement that was shared with Aleteia.
Sigmon was sentenced to death in 2002 for the double murder of his ex-girlfriend’s parents, William David Larke and Gladys Gwendolyn Larke, on April 27, 2001. Sigmon admitted guilt to the crimes but states he was mentally ill and addicted to drugs at the time he committed them.
Those who believe in God, said Bishop Fabre-Jeune, “are called to uphold the inherent dignity of every human being, even those who have caused great harm.”
The bishop continued, saying,
“The death penalty is an affront to the sanctity of life. It denies the possibility of redemption and reconciliation and true justice. The Church stands firmly against capital punishment, recognizing that every person, regardless of the severity of their offenses, possesses a God-given dignity that cannot be taken away.”
The bishop extended prayers for the healing of victims of violent crimes and their families, but noted “state-sanctioned executions only deepen the wounds in our society. True justice is not found in retribution but in mercy and restoration.”
Firing squad
In 2021, South Carolina approved the use of the firing squad as a method of execution if the condemned inmate wished for it.
At the time, the state had been unable to carry out executions due to a lack of availability of the drugs that were used in lethal injections. Many states have had issues sourcing the drugs required to execute someone due to supplying countries’ refusal to sell them for the purpose of executions.
Executions resumed in South Carolina on September 20, 2024. The three men put to death since that time were all killed via lethal injection. Sigmon selected the firing squad as his method of execution as he believed the other options – the use of the electric chair or a lethal injection – would produce a more painful death.
Five states –Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah – permit the use of the firing squad as a method of execution.
However, since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, only Utah has actually executed prisoners with this method.
Sigmon’s execution, which was carried out as scheduled, was the first execution by firing squad in the United States in nearly 15 years.
The last person to die by firing squad was convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was executed on June 18, 2010.
Gardner, who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claimed that death by firing squad was more in line with his religious beliefs.
The church disputed this, and put out a statement the day of Gardner’s execution saying “so-called ‘blood atonement,’ by which individuals would be required to shed their own blood to pay for their sins, is not a doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
And today we celebrate...