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State And Federal Info

South Carolina

Famous Cases

Serial killer Donald Henry “Pee Wee” Gaskins, Jr., who grew up in an extremely violent household, attempted his first murder at the age of 13. He claimed to have killed many other people, but law enforcement authorities could not verify all those claims. In his autobiography, Gaskins said he had “a special mind” that gave him “permission to kill.” (Wikipedia). He was executed in the electric chair in 1991.

Susan Smith was convicted of murdering her two young sons by restraining them in their car seats and driving the car into a lake. She initially claimed that two African-American men had kidnapped her sons, but soon admitted to their murder. She was represented by prominent death penalty attorneys, who brought out facts about abuse she had suffered from her stepfather. Although the state asked for the death penalty, jurors returned a verdict of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Notable Exonerations

Michael Linder was sentenced to death in 1975 for killing a highway patrol officer. He was later found to have killed the officer in self defense and was acquitted in 1981.

Warren Douglas Manning was convicted in 1989 of murdering a police officer. The conviction relied entirely on circumstantial evidence, and Manning was acquitted in 1999.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

Herbert Fielding introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty during every legislative session he spent in the South Carolina legislature. None of the bills passed either chamber, but during his tenure (1970-1973 and 1983-1992) the bills kept the issue alive in the minds of South Carolina legislators.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, bills to expand the use of the death penalty were introduced during nearly every legislative session, but were not passed. In 2021, after the state reached ten years without an execution because of the Department of Corrections’ inability to obtain lethal injection drugs, the state legislature passed a bill to allow executions by electric chair or firing squad, making the electric chair the default method of execution.

South Carolina Executions in the 20th Century (by Offense and Race)

Historical data on executions in South Carolina reflects the state’s centuries-long discriminatory application of the death penalty against African Americans. Black men, women, and children comprised 78.5% of the people executed in South Carolina in the 20th century. Three-quarters of those executed for murder in the 20th century were people of color, and 74.5% were Black.

When it came to offenses in which no one died, the link between executions and lynchings in South Carolina is undeniable. Black men accused of sexual indiscretions with white women were frequent victims of lynching. For most of the 20th century, South Carolina permitted the death penalty for rape and attempted rape but employed it almost exclusively against Black men. 92.4% of those executed for rape or attempted rape were Black. 87.8% of those executed for rape were Black, and only Black men or boys were executed for attempted rape.

Decade
Total Executions
Murder
Rape
Attempted Rape
W B All W B All W B All W B All
1900-1909 4 26 30 4 21 25 0 5 5 0 0 0
1910-1919 3 49 52 3 31 34 0 5 5 0 13 13
1920-1929 8 28 36 8 23 31 0 3 3 0 2 2
1930-1939 18 50 68 18 44 62 0 5 5 0 1 1
1940-1949 9 50 59 5* 30 35 4 12 16 0 8 8
1950-1959 5 20 25 5 16 21 0 4 4 0 0 0
1960-1969 3 5 8 2 2 4 1 2 3 0 1 1
1970-1979 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1980-1989 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
1990-1999 13 9 22 12 9 22^ 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 65 237 302 55 176 236 5 36 41 0 25 25

* Includes 2 white men and 1 white woman who were executed in 1943 for conspiracy to commit murder.
^Includes 1 Native American man who was executed in 1999.

Sources: For executions between 1900 and 1972 — Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File, Executions by State. For executions between 1972 and 1999 — Death Penalty Information Center, Execution Database.

Magnolia Plantation, Charleston. Photo by leatherwoods via photobucket.
Magnolia Plantation, Charleston. Photo by leather­woods via photobucket.

Resources

  • South Carolinians Abolishing the Death Penalty
  • Department of Corrections
  • South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense
  • South Carolina Victim Assistance Network

South Carolina Execution Totals Since 1976

News & Developments


Methods of Execution

Feb 09, 2023

South Carolina Supreme Court Blocks Efforts to Conceal Lethal Injection Information

On January 26, South Carolina’s Supreme Court ordered the state to turn over infor­ma­tion about its attempts to obtain lethal injec­tion drugs, as part of a suit chal­leng­ing aspects of the state’s meth­ods of exe­cu­tion. South Carolina has …

South Carolina Supreme Court Blocks Efforts to Conceal Lethal Injection Information

Executions Overview

Oct 11, 2022

South Carolina Supreme Court to Hear Argument One Month Sooner on Constitutionality of Electric Chair and Firing Squad

The South Carolina Supreme Court will hear argu­ment one month soon­er on the state’s appeal of a tri­al court rul­ing that declared two of its statu­to­ri­ly meth­ods of exe­cu­tion — death by elec­tric chair and fir­ing squad — unconstituti…

South Carolina Supreme Court to Hear Argument One Month Sooner on Constitutionality of Electric Chair and Firing Squad

Executions Overview

Sep 09, 2022

South Carolina Trial Court Rules in Favor of Death-Row Prisoners Challenging Execution Methods

A South Carolina tri­al court has issued an injunc­tion pre­vent­ing the state from car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions using a fir­ing squad or the elec­tric chair, rul­ing that those meth­ods vio­late the state’s con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against “…

South Carolina Trial Court Rules in Favor of Death-Row Prisoners Challenging Execution Methods

Executions Overview

Aug 18, 2022

South Carolina Court Set to Rule on Prisoners’ Challenge to Electric Chair and Firing Squad Executions After Completion of Methods of Execution Trial

A deci­sion on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of South Carolina’s new­ly adopt­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods now rests in the hands a tri­al court judge after lawyers for death-row pris­on­ers and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) prese…

South Carolina Court Set to Rule on Prisoners’ Challenge to Electric Chair and Firing Squad Executions After Completion of Methods of Execution Trial

Arbitrariness

Aug 04, 2022

As Trial in South Carolina Execution-Method Challenge Begins, Review of State’s Death Penalty Reveals System that is Biased, Arbitrary, and Error-Prone

As the tri­al chal­leng­ing South Carolina’s exe­cu­tion meth­ods began on Augu…

As Trial in South Carolina Execution-Method Challenge Begins, Review of State’s Death Penalty Reveals System that is Biased, Arbitrary, and Error-Prone

Mental Illness

Jul 28, 2022

Federal Appeals Court Finds South Carolina Judge Ignored Uncontested Evidence of Mental Illness, Reverses Death Sentence

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has over­turned a South Carolina death-row prisoner’s death sen­tence after find­ing that the sen­tenc­ing judge in his case had ignored uncon­test­ed evi­dence of the defendant’s …

Federal Appeals Court Finds South Carolina Judge Ignored Uncontested Evidence of Mental Illness, Reverses Death Sentence

Secrecy

May 20, 2022

Former South Carolina Death-Row Doctor: ​“I’m Supposed to be Saving People, Not Killing People”

After 37 years of silence, a South Carolina prison doc­tor who was in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber when eight pris­on­ers it was his duty to treat were put to death has for the first time pub­licly dis­cussed his con­flict­ing roles. I…

Former South Carolina Death-Row Doctor: “I’m Supposed to be Saving People, Not Killing People”

Methods of Execution

Apr 26, 2022

Executions Halted in South Carolina Amid Challenges to Constitutionality of Firing Squad and Electric Chair

The South Carolina Supreme Court has halt­ed two sched­uled exe­cu­tions, includ­ing one that would have been the state’s first exe­cu­tion by fir­ing squad, amid ongo­ing legal chal­lenges by state death-row pris­on­ers to the state’s execut…

Executions Halted in South Carolina Amid Challenges to Constitutionality of Firing Squad and Electric Chair

Methods of Execution

Apr 06, 2022

South Carolina Death-Row Prisoners File Suit to Block Firing-Squad Executions Until Courts Address Challenges to Execution Methods

Lawyers for three men on South Carolina’s death row have asked the state supreme court to defer set­ting exe­cu­tion dates until the courts resolve pend­ing legal chal­lenges to the state’s con­tro­ver­sial exe­cu­tion meth­ods. The…

South Carolina Death-Row Prisoners File Suit to Block Firing-Squad Executions Until Courts Address Challenges to Execution Methods

Methods of Execution

Mar 21, 2022

South Carolina Completes Preparations for Firing-Squad Executions

South Carolina has com­plet­ed prepa­ra­tions to exe­cute the state’s death-row pris­on­ers by fir­ing squad. In a 

South Carolina Completes Preparations for Firing-Squad Executions
View More

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 43
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 641
  • Current Death Row Population: 37
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 2
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 0
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): July 2, 1974
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 1985
  • Location of Death Row: Kirkland Correctional Institution, Columbia
  • Location of Executions: Broad River Correctional Institution, Columbia
  • Capital: Columbia
  • Region: South
  • Population: 5,118,425*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 9.01
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: Yes
  • Method of Execution: Choice of Injection or Electrocution
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Governor has sole authority to grant clemency
  • Governor: Henry McMaster

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