South Carolina Ready to Resume Executions by Lethal Injection After Acquiring Drugs

On September 19^th, 2023, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and the South Carolina Department of Corrections issued a joint state­ment inform­ing the pub­lic that the state is ​“now pre­pared” to car­ry out lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions, as they have retained the drug need­ed to do so. Gov. McMaster and Department of Corrections offi­cials filed a brief with the South Carolina Supreme Court, noti­fy­ing the courts of their pro­cure­ment of pen­to­bar­bi­tal, a seda­tive that can be lethal in high dos­es, and ask­ing for a resump­tion of exe­cu­tions. In his press release, Gov. McMaster says that ​“jus­tice has been delayed for too long in South Carolina… This fil­ing brings our state one step clos­er to being able to once again car­ry out the rule of law and bring griev­ing fam­i­lies and loved ones the clo­sure they are right­ful­ly owed.” The Director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC), Bryan Stirling, revealed that the state suc­cess­ful­ly pur­chased pen­to­bar­bi­tal, instead of rely­ing on the state’s pre­vi­ous pro­to­col, which includ­ed three drugs. Mr. Stirling did not reveal the spe­cif­ic pro­to­col in place but not­ed that it is near­ly iden­ti­cal to the pro­to­col adopt­ed by the U.S. federal government.

South Carolina, like many oth­er states, has been unable to pur­chase the drugs need­ed to car­ry out lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions since their sup­ply expired in 2013. Republican state offi­cials have cast blame on the lack of ​‘shield laws’ for their inabil­i­ty to acquire drugs, as ​“lead­ers have said phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies fear pub­lic pres­sure from activists and there­fore will not sell to states that do not con­ceal their iden­ti­ties.” In ear­ly 2023, the South Carolina General Assembly passed leg­is­la­tion that was signed by Gov. McMaster in May 2023, for­mal­ly con­ceal­ing the iden­ti­ties of lethal-injec­tion drug sup­pli­ers and exe­cu­tion team mem­bers. According to depart­ment of cor­rec­tions offi­cials, they have since made more 1,300 con­tacts in efforts to secure drugs.

Current South Carolina law requires that a death row pris­on­er be exe­cut­ed by the elec­tric chair, unless the indi­vid­ual elects for the fir­ing squad or lethal injec­tion. Those on death row in South Carolina have argued that dying by fir­ing squad or from elec­tric shock caus­ing a heart attack is cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment, which is barred by the 8^th amend­ment to the U.S. Constitution. There are ongo­ing legal chal­lenges to both of these meth­ods of exe­cu­tion. Gov. McMaster has asked the state supreme court to vacate these law­suits, now that they have acquired pen­to­bar­bi­tal and can avoid the con­cerns raised in the petitions.

There are cur­rent­ly 34 pris­on­ers on death row in South Carolina, accord­ing to the SCDC. The state’s last exe­cu­tion was in May 2011, with the lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tion of Jeffrey Motts.