On Friday, 7 March, a rare and solemn event unfolded in South Carolina. Brad Sigmon, a 67-year-old
death row inmate convicted for the brutal 2001 slayings of his ex-girlfriend’s parents, was executed
by a three-man firing squad. This method, which has not been used in the United States for 15 years,
was chosen by Sigmon over other means of capital punishment. He cited concerns regarding the uncertainty
and potential delays associated with lethal injection—and the fear of a prolonged, agonizing
death that he equated with being “burned and cooked alive” in the electric chair.
For more than two decades, Jeffrey Collins—a reporter with the Associated Press—has been present during
executions in South Carolina, having witnessed 11 such events using three different methods.
His account on this particular execution provides an unflinching look at the stark realities
of capital punishment and offers insight into a practice that remains both controversial and rarely observed.
