News Roundup

A man is scheduled to be executed by firing squad this evening, which would be the first firing squad execution in the United States in the last 15 years. On Wednesday, Brad Sigmon’s final appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court was denied. In South Carolina, death row inmates may choose between firing squad, lethal injection, and electrocution.  Sigmon said he felt forced to choose execution by firing squad over lethal injection because of a lack of information about the drugs used and the "fear of a tortuous death." He also said he didn’t choose electrocution because he didn’t want to suffer “by being cooked alive.” Sigmon’s attorneys attempted to delay the execution to get a fuller hearing in court to learn more information about the drugs used in lethal injection, but their request was denied. Sigmon plans to ask Governor Henry McMaster for his sentence to be commuted, although no South Carolina governor has granted clemency since the death penalty restarted in 1976. Read on for more criminal law news.   Alabama governor commutes death sentence. Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama commuted the death sentence of Robin Myers to life in prison last week, citing multiple questions surrounding his case and the evidence against him. Myers, convicted of capital murder in 1991 for the death of Ludie Mae Tucker, has long maintained his innocence. After finding him guilty, the jury voted 9-3 in favor of life in prison, but the judge overrode the decision and sentenced Myers to death. This [...]