Owens v. Stirling
South Carolina Supreme Court
904 S.E.2d 580 (2024)
- Written by Angela Patrick, JD
Facts
From the time South Carolina became a colony, it allowed the death penalty using first hanging, then electrocution, and then electrocution or lethal injection. In 2021, the state legislature amended the death-penalty statute to allow inmates to choose from three execution methods: electrocution, a lethal injection, or a firing squad. Freddie Owens (defendant) and three other inmates who had received the death penalty (defendants) petitioned to have the South Carolina state courts declare that the new statute’s addition of a firing-squad option violated the South Carolina Constitution’s prohibition on cruel, corporal, or unusual punishment. Expert testimony showed death by firing squad could occur in 10 to 15 seconds but might take up to 10 minutes. The trial court ruled that the new death-penalty statute violated the state’s constitution. The ruling was appealed to the South Carolina Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Few, J.)
Concurrence/Dissent (Beatty, C.J.)
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