South Carolina man called for end of death penalty before execution in final statement

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) — A South Carolina man became the first person in the state history to be executed by a firing squad Friday, and the first in the U.S. in 15 years.

“The capital punishment sentence of Brad Kieth Sigmon was carried out tonight in pursuant with the Supreme Court and South Carolina state law," Chrysti Shain, a spokesperson with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, said during a press conference after the execution.

It's an uncommon form of capital punishment across the country. Sigmon was executed by a three-person firing squad shortly after 6 p.m. on Friday.

“The curtain opened, and he looked towards his attorney who was on the front row of the witness. They kind of had an exchange. I couldn’t tell because his mouth was covered what they were mouthing back and forth to each other but it looked like he was just saying he was okay to his attorney," said Jeffrey Collins, a reporter for The Associated Press.

Collins was one of the three media witnesses who were inside the Capital Punishment Facility, watching it unfold from behind a bullet-proof window. They sat alongside Sigmon's lawyer, his spiritual advisor, three family members of the victims, a representative from the 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office, and a member of the sheriff's office.

The moments, Collins recalled, were tense.

“At that point, his arm tensed up when he got shot. There was kind of this brief moment of tensing," Collins explained.

Witnesses said the process from start to finish happened in less than 10 minutes, which is a significantly shorter amount of time than what is needed for lethal injection or electrocution. The curtain obstructing the witnesses' view of Sigmon was opened at 6:01 p.m. Shots were fired simultaneously at 6:05 p.m. by three, unnamed volunteers from the Department of Corrections. At 6:06 p.m. the witnesses said a medical examiner checked Sigmon's pulse, and by 6:08 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Sigmon was sentenced to death row in 2002 for the brutal beating deaths of his ex-girlfriend's parents, David and Gladys Larke, and for an attempt to kidnap his ex-girlfriend that happened a year prior.

On Friday, his final statement called for an end to the death penalty. It was read aloud by Shain, the spokesperson with the Department of Corrections, during a press conference afterward. The full statement can be read below:

I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.

An eye for an eye was used as justification to the jury for seeking the death penalty. At that time, I was too ignorant to know how wrong that was. Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law but now live under the New Testament.

Matthew 5:38-39 says, "You have heard that it has been said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' but I say unto you that you do not resist an evil person. Whosoever shall smite me on the right cheek, turn to him the other one as well."

Romans 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are no longer under the law but under grace."

Nowhere does God in the New Testament give man the authority to kill another man. That is why the Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Remember the words of Jesus, John 7:19, "Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keep with the law."

We are now under God's grace and mercy.

Brad Sigmon's final statement before his execution.

"It's just a sad day," said Elder James Johnson, an anti-death penalty advocate and CEO of the Racial Justice Network. "We feel the sadness in the air."

Friday afternoon, protestors gathered outside of the Broad River Correctional Institute holding signs with messages depicting an end to the process along with photos of Sigmon.

“Remember the victims but not with more killing. I think that rings true at every execution," said Hayden Laye, an anti-death penalty advocate.

“Governor McMaster and all of them will have to stand before God one day for that they do. If there’s any doubt in their mind, they should not go ahead with this execution or any execution of this kind in America," Johnson warned.

Sigmon's legal team hoped for a last-minute reprieve but late Friday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court declined his request to hear the case, and Governor Henry McMaster denied clemency.

In an interview, Sigmon's lawyer said he chose the firing squad method over lethal injection and electrocution. He was the fourth person executed by the process in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to the Associated Press.

The three other firing squad executions happened in Utah.

Sigmon's legal team said the choice of firing squad was not easy but felt it was the least inhumane.