A death row inmate was killed by a three-man firing squad last night (7 March), and his mother was unaware the rare execution method would be used.
Opting for this controversial method, Brad Sigmon is the first inmate to be executed this way in the US in 15 years.
The 67-year-old was convicted with killing his former girlfriend’s parents, David and Gladys Larke, with a baseball bat in 2001 before kidnapping her at gunpoint. She managed to escape while he shot at her.
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Sigmon was shot dead just after 6pm local time last night in South Carolina as a doctor pronounced him dead at 6:08pm.
He had requested death by firing squad over the other two, more used, state-approved procedures of the electric chair or lethal injection.
And ahead of his execution, Sigmon’s brother, Mike, explained their mum was being shielded from the truth.
Due to her ongoing battle with dementia, he explained Virginia had been kept from the detail’s of her son’s impending death. With the men having lost their dad six months ago, it was prioritised that their mum would be protected from further distress.
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Mike also told DailyMail.com that his brother was calm and relaxed in his final hours.
“Brad is at peace with everything. I don’t understand it personally, but he’s at peace with it, and that’s all that matters,” he said.
“He’s been in jail for more than 20 years, and what he’s been through in there ain’t no life, being locked up in a cage, treated like a dog, and eating slop for dinner.
“He’s fixing to live on the other side now. He doesn’t want to live in jail no more.”
It was said he would not be attending his brother’s execution but had spoken to him on the phone the day before so they could say a final goodbye.
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During the execution, the BBC reports that Sigmon was strapped to a chair with a basin underneath to catch blood.
He told witnesses that he wanted his last words to be ones of 'love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty'.
He said: "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."
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Mike also said that Sigmon viewed this dark scenario as a 'win-win', explaining: "Because either he gets to continue to live but he’s stuck in hell [jail], or they can execute him and he gets to be free in heaven.
"I don’t see how that’s a win-win personally, but that’s what he’s been saying."
Jess Battison