Monthly Executions in SC Could Proceed Until March 2025 Under Proposed AG Timeline

South Carolina Supreme Court Agrees Not to Issue Further Death Warrants Until Decision is Reached on Request for 13-Week Intervals

Attorneys for South Carolina are countering death row inmates’ requests for execution schedules to be spaced 13 weeks apart, proposing instead a maximum interval of 28 days. The state Supreme Court has ceased scheduling any additional executions until they decide on this motion.

Freddie Owens, set to die on September 20, will be the first individual executed in South Carolina since 2011. The execution dates for five further death row inmates awaiting the signing of their death warrants will be dictated by the high court’s final decision regarding execution scheduling. South Carolina law does not stipulate any obligatory periodicity between such events. In the seven-week stretch bridging December 1998 and January 1999, South Carolina executed six inmates, two of which occurred on the same day.

Should the court agree to a 13-week interval for executions, schedules indicate the potential for only one additional execution this year. Attorney General Alan Wilson and two deputy attorneys general proposed a four-week interval as a concessionary measure, dismissing the necessity for three-month gaps between each execution.

Concerns and Rebuttals

Efficient execution schedules have been a cause for concern among legal representatives of the inmates. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, no state has executed more than four individuals this year. In 2023, only two states—Texas and Florida—had higher numbers, with eight and six executions respectively.

Attorneys representing the inmates have voiced multiple concerns over consecutive executions. The possibility of an oversight causing a condemned man to suffer in death is raised significantly with quick successions. Executioners lack the necessary time to learn from any mistakes made in one execution and apply the lessons learnt to the next. The psychological and physical toll of conducting multiple executions in a short span could also pose significant health risks to the staff.

South Carolina rebuffed these concerns, citing the absence of any evidence supporting such problems occurring within the state previously. The Department of Corrections staff were lauded for their professionalism and dignity, with assurances that they are prepared to serve as required by law.

Recommencement of Executions

South Carolina last carried out an execution in 2011. Two years later, the expiration of the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs brought a halt to further executions. Legislation made electrocution the default method of execution in 2021, along with the introduction of firing squads. Four inmates brought the constitutionality of this law into question but, in July 2024, the state Supreme Court permitted the resumption of executions.

Testimonies by Corrections Director Bryan Stirling confirm that the state is equipped with three viable execution methods, all of which have proven errorless in recent testing. An act making all purchasing information regarding lethal injection drugs confidential enabled the prisons agency to replenish its supply.

Attorneys for the inmates have also requested clarity regarding the order of executions. Their confusion arises from Freddie Owens, not being the first among the condemned men to exhaust his appeals, yet being scheduled first for execution. Despite this, South Carolina is gearing towards monthly executions until at least March 2025, providing the court sides with their proposed timeline.