electric chair

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SC Supreme Court Deems 3 Execution Methods Legal

Gives OK to firing squad, lethal injection, electric chair

(Newser) - The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state's death penalty, which now includes a firing squad as well as lethal injection and the electric chair, is legal. All five justices agreed with at least part of the ruling, opening the door to restart executions in a state...

Judge Rules Against 2 Execution Methods in SC

Electric chair, firing squad are unconstitutonal, she says

(Newser) - A South Carolina judge ruled this week that the state's newly created execution firing squad, as well as its use of the electric chair, are unconstitutional, siding with four death row inmates in a decision sure to be swiftly appealed as the state struggles to implement its new execution...

SCOTUS Sides With Inmate Who Asked for Firing Squad

Michael Wade Nance says lethal injection would be unusually painful for him

(Newser) - Update: The Supreme Court has narrowly ruled in favor of a condemned Georgia inmate who has requested death by firing squad because he has a medical condition that would make lethal injection a long and extremely painful process. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that Michael Nance could proceed...

Electric Chair or Firing Squad? Inmate Says Neither

Richard Moore asks courts to decide whether either is unconstitutional

(Newser) - A South Carolina inmate scheduled to die either by a firing squad or in the electric chair later this month is asking the state Supreme Court to halt his execution until judges can determine if either method is cruel and unusual punishment. Richard Bernard Moore is to die April 29...

SC's Top Court Blocks 2 Electric Chair Executions

Justices say men should also be offered option of firing squad

(Newser) - The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked two executions that had been set for this month under the state’s recently revised capital punishment law. The high court halted the planned executions of inmates Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens. The executions had been scheduled less than a month after...

South Carolina Judge Won't Block 2 Controversial Executions

They're scheduled for June 18 and June 25

(Newser) - A South Carolina judge on Tuesday refused to block two executions set for later this month as she considers a lawsuit over the state’s new capital punishment law, which effectively forces condemned prisoners to choose to die by either the electric chair or firing squad. State Circuit Judge Jocelyn...

South Carolina Senators Want to Bring Back Firing Squads

Bill would make electric chair the default method

(Newser) - Firing squads will make a comeback in South Carolina if a bill being considered by the state's Senate becomes law. Under current South Carolina law, condemned inmates have the choice between lethal injection or the electric chair, and the state can't force them to die by electrocution if...

They Tried to Save His Life. Before Death, He Thanked Them

Nicholas Sutton chose electric chair over lethal injection

(Newser) - A convicted murderer was put to death in Tennessee's electric chair Thursday, becoming the state's fifth prisoner over 16 months to choose electrocution over the state's preferred method of lethal injection. Nicholas Sutton, 58, was pronounced dead at 7:26pm at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in...

The People Trying to Halt His Execution Are Unexpected

Among them: the daughter of one of the people Nick Sutton murdered

(Newser) - Death row inmate Nick Sutton has an unusual group of supporters seeking to block his scheduled execution Thursday. Among them are family members of his victims, as well as past and present prison workers calling for clemency. Sutton, 58, was sentenced to death in 1986 for killing fellow inmate Carl...

State Sends Blind Man to Electric Chair

Tennessee executes Lee Hall for 1991 murder

(Newser) - Lee Hall never saw the chair he would be killed in. The 53-year-old convicted murderer was executed in Tennessee's electric chair Thursday night, making him the second blind man to be executed in the US since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. He was sentenced to die in 1992...

Inmate's Last Words in Electric Chair: 'Jesus Wept'

Tennessee executes man for murder of mother, daughter

(Newser) - On Thursday night, Tennessee executed an inmate in the electric chair at Nashville's Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, marking the chair's third use since November. Stephen Michael West, convicted of murdering a mother and her teenage daughter in their home in 1986, chose the method over lethal injection earlier...

Last Words Before Execution: 'Beats Being on Death Row'

Tennessee executes longest-serving condemned man

(Newser) - Tennessee executed its longest-serving death row inmate Thursday night—and after 36 years as a condemned man, David Earl Miller was apparently ready to die. The Tennessean reports that the 61-year-old's last words after he was strapped into the electric chair were initially inaudible. After the warden asked him...

Inmate Has 2 Last Words Before Electric Chair

Edmund Zagorski chose an unusual final meal

(Newser) - Double murderer Edmund Zagorski was executed by electric chair Thursday night after the US Supreme Court denied an appeal that argued forcing him to choose between electrocution and lethal injection was unconstitutional. Witnesses say the 63-year-old inmate's final words before the execution were "Let's rock," NBC...

Maker of Electric Chair This Man Will Die in Is Concerned

Edmund Zagorski is scheduled to die Thursday in Tennessee

(Newser) - Edmund Zagorski is officially on death watch in Tennessee ahead of his planned Thursday execution. He'll be under surveillance for 24 hours in a cell next to the execution chamber as he awaits his death by electric chair , reports the AP . But there's one hiccup in terms of...

Inmate Makes His Choice Ahead of Execution

Edmund Zagorski requests electric chair, 'lesser of two evils,' over lethal injection

(Newser) - A Tennessee inmate set to be executed this week is asking the state to allow him to die by electric chair over lethal injection because it's the "lesser of two evils." Attorney Kelley Henry confirmed that Edmund Zagorski made the request roughly two hours before the Tennessee...

Va. Governor Blocks Bill on Electric Chair

Would have been Plan B if lethal injection drugs ran out

(Newser) - Death-row inmates in Virginia won't have to face the electric chair—unless they want to. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has blocked a measure that would have made death by electrocution the mandatory Plan B if the state runs out of lethal-injection drugs, reports the Washington Post . McAuliffe had until midnight...

Inmates Sue, Call Electric Chair 'Torture Device'

Tennessee convicts say it shouldn't be alternative to lethal injection

(Newser) - Death-row inmates in Tennessee have sued the state over its possible use of the electric chair to kill them, reports the Tennessean . "Even when the chair works exactly as it is intended, it is a torture device," says an attorney for the inmates. The move stems from the...

Oklahoma Town Insists It Owns 'Old Sparky'

But state won't give back electric chair, in case it needs to use it

(Newser) - It is one of the craziest custody disputes you could imagine. A city in Oklahoma wants the state to give it back "Old Sparky," an electric chair last used about 50 years ago. McAlester officials want to put it on display as a piece of history. But the...

Tennessee Brings Back Electric Chair

As Wyoming debates return to firing squad

(Newser) - Amid shortages of drugs used in lethal injections and controversy over a botched execution in Oklahoma , Tennessee has become the first state to revive an older method of execution. Gov. Bill Haslam yesterday signed a bill allowing the state to use the electric chair if execution drugs are not available,...

1 in 5 Americans: Bring Back the Gas Chamber

NBC News poll finds most back alternative execution methods

(Newser) - If one in five Americans had their way, the US wouldn't need to worry about an execution drug shortage because, well, we'd be gassing convicts. According to an NBC News poll, about two-thirds of 800 respondents said they would support alternative methods of execution: 20% are for gas...

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