Posted on 02/06/2024 3:29:23 PM PST by Libloather
South Carolina wants to bring back the firing squad and the electric chair as the state argues that “painless” deaths are not mandated.
Among the 33 prisoners on death row in the Palmetto State, four inmates are arguing that the electric chair and firing squad are cruel and unusual punishments. The inmates also claim a 2023 law that allows lethal injections is too secretive about many details of the new drug.
However, the governor of the Palmetto State disagrees, saying all three methods fit the existing protocol and painless executions are not mandated by law.
“Courts have never held the death has to be instantaneous or painless,” wrote Grayson Lambert, a lawyer for Gov. Henry McMaster’s office.
Currently, the electric chair serves as South Carolina’s secondary option if lethal injection doesn’t work. Lawmakers added the firing squad to the list of options in 2021.
In September, the state changed its lethal injection method to using the sedative pentobarbital, meaning inmates would only need one injection instead of three. Very little is known about the new drug and prison officials have only said the method is similar to the protocol followed by the federal government and six other states.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
painless executions are not mandated by law.
Where did we get the idea it should be painless?
Well said.
still amazes that these bozos aren’t using the FREE and endless supply of fentanyl that is available from any police station anywhere USA.
“Very little is known about the new drug…”
That’s a lie. It’s been available since the 1930s.
L
It’s not a “death penalty”. It’s JUSTICE.
The Eighth Amendment (No cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted”) to the US Constitution has been interpreted by courts as “cruel” = “painful”
I hope they’re not just limited to executions!
I want a firing squad. If it was good enough for Gary Gilmore, it’s good enough for me.
What does everyone have against ROPE??
It’s reusable energy. Zero carbon footprint.
As an officer ret’d I would choose a firing squad.
If I had to choose, (hopefully never!) Firing Squad would be for me.
Less chance of having electrical/ mechanical problems.
Less chance of being unable to find the right vein or correct titration of drugs.
from the constitution no cruel and unusual punishment why should we make it more painless when there are less painless ways to kill.
Perhaps the most reliable way to die is to have one’s freedoms taken away, little by little,
to owe more and more to an unaccountable government,
to “own” things covered in stamps, permissions, permits, and proofs-of-payment,
to be lied to repeatedly by a self-serving media élite,
to spend money on things that weren’t made by my neighbors or fellow citizens,
money taxed before and after I spend, taxed and taxed like my shoes, my asphalt, the dirt on “my land,”
to be robbed of the opportunity to educate my children,
and to be harassed, year after year, for presuming to enjoy the last vestiges of my freedom,
as I light a backyard leaf-fire wondering is the SWAT team will invade,
or espouse traditional marriage wondering is I will lose custody,
or ponder posting other terrible, criminal acts, like failing to wear a seat-belt, on this public forum,
while remembering and longing for days––distant, haunting days––in which I seemed to have been a free man, living among free men.
Now THAT would be a death sentence!
Hanging has a certain old West charm to it.
You murderers think this is cruel and unusual punishment?
Fine, then. We will kill you the way you killed your victim/victims.
from the constitution no cruel and unusual punishment
” Largely as a result of these objections, the Constitution was amended to prohibit cruel and unusual punishments.
As these debates demonstrate, the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause clearly prohibits “barbaric” methods of punishment. If the federal government tried to bring back the rack, or thumbscrews, or gibbets as instruments of punishment, such efforts would pretty clearly violate the Eighth Amendment.
Especially in public where it's meant to take place.
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