The South Carolina Department of Corrections is ready to resume executions by lethal injection, firing squad, and electrocution after the South Carolina Supreme Court handed down a decision Wednesday deeming all of them legal under the State Constitution.
South Carolina hasn't carried out an execution in years. In court documents, The Department of Corrections argued that they’d been unable to get the drugs required for lethal injections—until a law passed last year known as the "Shield Law," protected the identity of companies selling it.
"We’re ready to carry out all methods of execution at this time," said Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling.
Governor McMaster said in a statement today that the "Supreme Court has rightfully upheld the rule of law " and that the decision is a step toward ensuring that "the families and loved ones of the victims receive the closure and justice they have long awaited."
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey also touted the decision as a "win for the rule of law." At the same time, Minority Leader Brad Hutto says even though he's against the death penalty, he believes the firing squad is the most humane execution.
"I’m not in favor of the whole process but if we’re going to have it, it ought to be fast and it ought to be painless as much as possible," said Sen. Hutto.
South Carolina is one of 21 states that allow the death penalty, and 6 other states have paused executions by executive action, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Executive Director of the South Carolina American Civil Liberties Union, Jace Woodrum, says there is no room for the death penalty in South Carolina.
"Execution is a costly, ineffective form of cruel and unusual punishment that not only fails to make us safer but raises the possibility of the state killing innocent people in our name," said Woodrum. "South Carolina’s ‘shield law’ adds a layer secrecy about the methodology of killing, making future executions less transparent than ever before.”
According to Stirling, there are 32 South Carolina inmates on death row, one of whom is in California. He says it's now in the hands of the court to schedule execution dates for those inmates.