Latest news with #Denno
USA Today
06-03-2025
- USA Today
SC inmate to die by firing squad. Is the 'barbaric' method making a comeback?
SC inmate to die by firing squad. Is the 'barbaric' method making a comeback? Show Caption Hide Caption Inmate chooses death by firing squad for execution Death row inmate Brad Sigmon has chosen to die by firing squad after being convicted for the deaths of his ex-girlfriend's parents. A South Carolina inmate is set to die by firing squad Friday, a rare execution method in the United States that experts say may be making a comeback in more states as lethal injection drugs become harder to obtain. Brad Keith Sigmon, 67, will be executed for the 2001 beating deaths of his ex-girlfriend's parents, David and Gladys Larke. Death row inmates in the state can choose how they die or be given the default option, the state's over 100-year-old electric chair. Sigmon's attorney, Gerald 'Bo' King, said in a statement his client made the best choice he could given the "monstrous" alternatives. Death by firing squad has been used as an execution method for nearly as long as firearms have existed, and it is still used by countries around the world, Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor, told USA TODAY. But in the U.S., firing squads have not been widely used since they were supplanted in popularity by another archaic method, hanging, in the mid-19th century, Denno said. In recent years, South Carolina became one of five states that have legalized firing squads as an execution method, most recently Idaho in 2023. "It's safe to say since 1858 we've never had this many states adopting firing squad as a method of execution, and that's a pretty astonishing statistic," Denno said. Who is Brad Keith Sigmon? More about the inmate who chose the firing squad Firing squads weren't common, even at the height of their popularity It is believed the first execution carried out in colonial America was done by firing squad, Denno said. From 1608, when Captain George Kendall was killed, to 2002, at least 143 civilians have been executed by shooting, according to a database known as the Espy File. Firing squads may also have been used by the military during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, but the bulk of these executions were largely confined to the Civil War, according to Mark Smith, director of the Institute for Southern Studies. "It wasn't terribly common during the Civil War itself, even when it was used, and it was used primarily as a public deterrent against desertion for both Union and Confederate soldiers," said Smith, who submitted an affidavit on the history of firing squad executions in a case heard by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Smith said less than 5% of the 26,000 Union soldiers tried for desertion were sentenced to death by firing squad, citing a 2009 book called "Confederate Death Sentences: A Reference Guide." It's not clear how many Confederates received the same sentence, but Smith said about 12% of the Army of Northern Virginia soldiers tried for desertion were sentenced to die by this method. The Death Penalty Information Center says none of executions by firing squad since 1890 were botched, citing the 2014 book "Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty." But the center notes that the Salt Lake City Tribune has reported that the executions of Wallace Wilkerson in 1879 and Eliseo J. Mares in 1951 were botched, adding that Mares was shot in the hip and abdomen and wasn't declared dead for 'several minutes." Firing squads remain rare, but more states could follow In modern U.S. history, there have only been three executions by firing squad all of which took place in Utah. The state used this method to kill Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010, John Albert Taylor in 1996 and Gary Mark Gilmore in 1977. As lethal injection drugs have become harder to obtain, states with the death penalty have looked to expand their execution methods to firing squads and nitrogen gas, which was first used in the U.S. in January 2024 in Alabama for the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith. Many pharmaceutical companies do not want to publicly provide drugs used for lethal injections, former Death Penalty Information Center Deputy Director Ngozi Ndulue previously told the Mississippi Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. In order to resume executions in South Carolina after more than a decade, lawmakers passed a shield law to conceal the identities of those involved in executions, and the state Department of Corrections made over 1,300 inquiries to drug manufacturers, suppliers and compounding pharmacies in search of lethal drugs. Idaho, Mississippi and Oklahoma also allow death by firing squad, though lethal injection remains the primary method, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But a bill working its way through the Idaho Legislature following the failed lethal injection of Thomas Creech could make firing squads the state's primary form of capital punishment and others may follow suit, Denno said. How do firing squad executions work? The South Carolina Department of Corrections previously told USA TODAY the inmate will be restrained in a metal chair in the corner of a room shared by the state's electric chair, according to the state's protocols. The firing squad will include three volunteers from the corrections staff who will stand behind a wall with loaded rifles 15 feet from the inmate. The wall will have an opening that won't be visible from the witness room, and bullet-resistant glass has been installed between the death chamber and the witness room. Witnesses typically include family of both the inmate and victim, news media, attorneys and prison staff."The inmate will be strapped into the chair, and a hood will be placed over his head," the department said. "A small aim point will be placed over his heart by a member of the execution team. After the warden reads the execution order, the team will fire. After the shots, a doctor will examine the inmate. After the inmate is declared dead, the curtain will be drawn and witnesses escorted out." Reporters who witnessed Gardner's execution in 2010 said five volunteer prison staff members fired at him from about 25 feet away with .30-caliber rifles, aiming at a target pinned over his chest as he sat in a chair, ABC News reported. One of the rifles had a blank so none of the volunteers knew whether they fired a fatal bullet, according to ABC. Gardner was pronounced dead within two minutes after the shots were fired. Denno said at least one execution, which took place in Nevada in 1913, used a machine to pull the trigger instead of human executioners. Idaho Department of Correction spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic said the agency is considering using 'a remote-operated weapons system alongside traditional firing squad methods.' Should firing squads still be legal? The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled last year that the state could execute death row inmates by firing squad, the electric chair or lethal injection, but two of the justices said they felt a firing squad was not legal, the New York Times reported. Denno said death by firing squads meet the criteria for a constitutional method of execution set by the United States Supreme Court: It's a well-known method, unlike nitrogen hypoxia. It's readily available, unlike some drugs used for lethal injection. And it's effective, meaning that no one has survived a botched execution by firing squad. While Americans may not like it, particularly given the country's public health crisis of gun violence, Denno believes it is "the least inhumane" and "most honest" form of capital punishment. "If I were going to have to choose, I would choose firing squad. There's no question about that," Denno said. But at the same time, she added: "It is a barbaric method. It's associated with war time, it's associated with on the street killings, and it's associated with how they kill in countries that we would not want to share an association with, and it is associated with interpersonal violence in this country." Smith said that he can understand why an inmate would choose the firing squad believing it to be more effective and immediate than the alternatives. But he said Americans who witnessed such executions during the Civil War often described them as ghoulish, and shots sometimes had to be fired more than once to ensure the person was dead. Though modern firing squad executions will look very different than their 19th century counterparts, Smith said "what we're doing today is a throwback to something that was considered unusual and cruel during the hardest part of American history, and I'm not sure where that really places us today." Contributing: Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A year later, Whitmer silent on MSU board's request to remove 2 trustees for misconduct
EAST LANSING ― A year after she was asked to remove two Michigan State University trustees for misconduct that included accepting free flights and courtside tickets from donors and trying to change the findings of an investigation into the 2023 mass shooting on campus, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hasn't taken any public action. In the meantime, the restrictions placed on March 3, 2024, on Trustees Rema Vassar, D-Detroit, and Dennis Denno, D-East Lansing, expired on Dec. 31. Both sought and were granted seats on the board committee for academic affairs and the board committee on budget and finance in January. They had been prohibited from serving on committees and stripped of liaison positions when they were censured by their fellow trustees in March. Despite their return to previously-held responsibilities, and board Chair Kelly Tebay telling the State Journal she felt the board wanted to move on and present a united front behind President Kevin Guskiewicz, the request to remove Vassar and Denno is still active. Guskiewicz started at MSU as president in March 2024. In October, Danny Wimmer, press secretary for Attorney General Dana Nessel, confirmed Whitmer's office reached out to Nessel's office to review the request. Stacey LaRouche, press secretary for Whitmer, didn't respond to multiple requests in recent weeks about the status of the board's request to the governor. Wimmer did not respond to an inquiry Wednesday about whether Nessel was still reviewing Whitmer's request. Whitmer and Nessel, like Vassar and Denno, are all members of the Democratic party. Asked about the pending board request to Whitmer, Denno said the referral was a "non-issue" and that "no one thinks about it anymore." He added that he was excited to be back on board committees. Vassar did not respond to a message left seeking comment. Former Faculty Senate Chair Jack Lipton has been advocating for the two to be removed, believing they encouraged students to attack him and label him a racist. He sued the board in October for retaliation, and the lawsuit is pending. "Since we haven't heard anything from the governor in so long, we were hoping a creative solution through the court system could put pressure on the university to make the right decisions," Liz Abdnour, Lipton's Lansing-based attorney, told the State Journal in October. In October 2023, now-Vice Chair Brianna Scott sent a letter to her fellow trustees and local media, detailing 10 allegations against then-Chair Vassar's misconduct and bullying. The letter sparked an investigation into Vassar's behavior, for which MSU hired Washington D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier. That investigation later expanded to cover allegations of misconduct by Denno and other trustees. The investigation, which MSU has spent $2 million on, found evidence to support some, but not all, of Scott's original allegations. The law firm found evidence Denno tried to get the who analyzed MSU's response to the mass shooting to change their findings after the report criticized the trustees' response. Vassar also accepted courtside tickets and a private jet flight from a donor for her and her daughter to attend a basketball game. Both trustees acted outside the authority of their roles, investigators found, as well as evidence that both Vassar and Denno attempted to "embarrass and unsettle" former interim President Teresa Woodruff and attack Lipton. Miller & Chevalier concluded its report with several recommendations, including that the two trustees be referred to Whitmer so she could consider removing them. The board also censured Scott for making her allegations public. Vassar and Denno have maintained that Miller & Chevalier's investigation was incomplete and misleading. "I refute most of the allegations in the Miller & Chevalier (MC) report," Denno said in an email to the State Journal last year. "I will accept a censure but contest any other form of punishment. What has been proposed is overly-punitive in nature." Through her attorneys, paid for by MSU, Vassar released a statement calling the report 'profoundly flawed.' She is involved in a dispute with the university over legal fees for attorneys MSU hired on her behalf. Whitmer has used strong language previously to describe the turmoil. In October 2023, the governor called the allegations against Vassar "deeply concerning." "I'm taking it very seriously," Whitmer said during a news media scrum. "I think the allegations, if accurate, amount to a serious breach of conduct in what we expect of our board members and ... the oath that they took." Whitmer has the sole authority to remove the trustees as governor. MSU's trustees, along with the University of Michigan's Board of Regents and Wayne State University's Board of Governors, are the only college governing bodies whose members are elected in statewide elections in Michigan, and as elected officials the only person who can remove them is the governor. In 2020 Vassar was elected with over 2.3 million votes and in 2022, Denno was elected with 1.9 million votes, according to records from the Michigan Secretary of State. Eric Lupher, president of the Livonia-based nonprofit public affairs research organization Citizens Research Council, told the State Journal last year that a governor removing an elected official in Michigan was so rare there was no defined process. The last high-profile effort to remove an elected official by a Michigan governor was over a decade ago, Lupher said. And the elected official in question, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, resigned before Gov. Jennifer Granholm could announce a decision. Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@ Follow her on X @sarahmatwood. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: A year later, Whitmer mum on MSU board's request to remove 2 trustees
New York Times
22-02-2025
- New York Times
U.S. Firing Squad Executions Are Rare, but Their History Is Long
No prisoner in South Carolina has ever been legally executed by a firing squad. But for those who have been sentenced to death, the option is available. And on Friday, a lawyer for a man who was convicted of murder said that his client preferred a firing squad to other methods of execution. Death by firing squad has a long history in the United States — in the popular imagination, it is associated with the Wild West or the Civil War. But in modern times, that method of execution is rare. The last time an American inmate was killed that way was in 2010 in Utah. That could be changing — and not only in South Carolina. What is happening in South Carolina? The state passed a law in 2021 that made death by firing squad a legal option for people on death row. The legislation was prompted, in part, by a supply shortage: South Carolina was having trouble procuring the drugs for lethal injection, which remains the most widely used method in states with capital punishment. The law was challenged but ultimately upheld by the South Carolina Supreme Court, which decided last year that death by electrocution, firing squad or lethal injection could not be considered cruel or unusual because inmates could select the option that they considered the least painful. The state has yet to use the method to kill someone on death row. But that could change on March 7, when Brad Sigmon, 67, who was convicted in the 2001 murder of his former girlfriend's parents in Taylors, S.C., is set to be executed. Mr. Sigmon has chosen to die by firing squad because he has concerns about South Carolina's lethal injection process, according to his lawyer, Gerald 'Bo' King. How many civilians have been executed by firing squads in the United States? Since 1977, there have been three executions by firing squad, all of which took place in Utah. Historical data suggests that at least 144 American inmates have been executed by shooting since 1608, though it is not clear how many involved firing squads. Of those, 40 were in Utah — more than any other state. A sort of automated firing squad was used to kill a prisoner in Nevada more than a century ago, said Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University: In the execution of Andriza Mircovich in 1913, three rifles were fired simultaneously by a mechanism, so that no one had to pull a trigger. Professor Denno has argued that firing squads are more humane than other methods of execution, in part because they are harder to botch than, say, lethal injections. But the practice has historically been more closely associated with the military than with civilian prisoners. 'I think it looks barbaric to people because it's associated with our country's history,' Professor Denno said. 'It's associated with military executions. It's associated with wartime.' What did firing squads look like during conflict? During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate troops used firing squads to kill deserting soldiers. The executions were intended to inspire fear, as they were typically carried out in public. 'They were often done at a crossroads, some kind of field, some kind of public, open space — and that was the intention because they were largely directed against deserters,' said Mark M. Smith, the Carolina distinguished professor of history at the University of South Carolina, who argued against the legalization of firing squad executions in a 2023 affidavit for the South Carolina Supreme Court. The deserters were typically shot simultaneously by three or more fellow soldiers — one of whom might have been issued blanks, rather than live rounds, as was the case in the 2010 Utah execution — to blur the lines of responsibility for the death. The origins of firing squad executions are murky, Professor Smith said, adding that other countries use the practice too. In the United States, they appear to have been used against deserting soldiers as early as the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Still, he added, the practice was always somewhat rare, and newspaper articles suggested that witnesses were sometimes repulsed by the bloodshed. Where are firing squads legal? And how do they work? People on death row can choose to die by firing squads in Utah and South Carolina. Mississippi and Oklahoma allow the firing squad as a secondary method of execution, if lethal injection drugs cannot be obtained. The same is true in Idaho, but Republicans in the state's Senate recently introduced a bill that would make the firing squad the primary method of execution. Each state can set its own protocol for the practice. In South Carolina, the Department of Corrections said in 2022 that death row inmates who chose that method of execution would be strapped to chairs with hoods over their heads. Three department employees with rifles, all loaded with live ammunition, would then stand behind a wall with an opening, through which they would fire bullets at the person's heart.
