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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.

Although bills are introduced during nearly every legislative period that would expand the use of the death penalty (for example, by allowing ten jurors to impose the death penalty instead of twelve), so far those bills have been rejected.

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


Recent Legislative Activity

Mar 01, 2021

Legislators in South Carolina, Montana Seek to Change Execution Methods to Allow Executions to Resume

Frustrated by the inabil­i­ty to put pris­on­ers to death, leg­is­la­tors in two states are seek­ing to jump­start the exe­cu­tion process by chang­ing the laws that gov­ern how exe­cu­tions may be con­duct­ed. After gain­ing lit­tle trac­tion in pri­or leg­isla­tive se…

Legislators in South Carolina, Montana Seek to Change Execution Methods to Allow Executions to Resume

Lethal Injection

Dec 02, 2020

Citing State’s Lack of Execution Drugs, South Carolina Supreme Court Stays Richard Moore’s Execution

Saying that the state lacked the abil­i­ty to car­ry out a lethal injec­tion, the South Carolina Supreme Court has stayed the sched­uled December 4, 2020 exe­cu­tion of Richard Moore (pic­tured). With no state executions …

Citing State’s Lack of Execution Drugs, South Carolina Supreme Court Stays Richard Moore’s Execution

Upcoming Executions

Nov 20, 2020

South Carolina Seeks to Execute Richard Moore December 4, But Won’t Say How

South Carolina has issued a death war­rant to exe­cute Richard Moore (pic­tured) on December 4, 2020, but, his lawyers say, the state has refused to tell him how it intends to car­ry it out. In a motion to st…

South Carolina Seeks to Execute Richard Moore December 4, But Won’t Say How

Mental Illness

Jul 27, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of July 20, 2020

NEWS (7/​21 & 7/​22/​20) — Texas: Split pan­els of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit have upheld the con­vic­tions and death sen­tences imposed on Erica Sheppard (pic­tured) and Anib…

Conditions on Death Row

Apr 16, 2020

Federal Court Approves Settlement of Pennsylvania Death-Row Conditions Lawsuit

A fed­er­al dis­trict court judge has approved a set­tle­ment of a class action chal­lenge to the con­di­tions of con­fine­ment on Pennsylvania’s death row that offi­cial­ly ends the state’s pol­i­cy of manda­to­ry incar­cer­a­tion of death-row pris­on­ers in permanen…

Federal Court Approves Settlement of Pennsylvania Death-Row Conditions Lawsuit

Representation

Mar 06, 2020

News Brief — Recent Death-Penalty Decisions Through March 6

NEWS (3/​6/​20): The United States Court of Military Appeals has upheld the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence of Timothy Hennis, fol­low­ing his acquit­tal in Nor…

Mental Illness

Oct 09, 2019

Supreme Court Opens 2019-2020 Term with Consideration of Death Penalty Cases

The 2019 – 2020 U.S. Supreme Court term opened on October 7 with the Court declin­ing to review chal­lenges to death-penal­ty court deci­sions from a num­ber of states and with the Court hear­ing argu­ment in a Kansas deat…

Supreme Court Opens 2019-2020 Term with Consideration of Death Penalty Cases

Oct 03, 2019

Jurors Report Experiencing Continuing Trauma After Serving in South Carolina Death-Penalty Trial

Jurors in South Carolina report that they are expe­ri­enc­ing pro­found psy­cho­log­i­cal effects from their expo­sure to graph­i­cal­ly vio­lent images, tes­ti­mo­ny, and argu­ment dur­ing the death-penal­ty tri­al of Tim Jones, Jr. 

Jurors Report Experiencing Continuing Trauma After Serving in South Carolina Death-Penalty Trial

Intellectual Disability

Sep 30, 2019

Death Penalty News and Developments for the Week of September 30 — October 6, 2019: A Flurry of New Death Sentences and Stays of Execution

NEWS — October 3 – 4, 2019: In the span of two days, three new death sen­tences were imposed and three exe­cu­tions were halt­ed across the United States. …

Conditions on Death Row

Jul 16, 2019

Facing Prison-Conditions Court Challenge, South Carolina Moves Its Death Row to a New Facility

Amidst an ongo­ing law­suit chal­leng­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of South Carolina’s death-row con­di­tions, the state has moved its death-row pris­on­ers to a dif­fer­ent prison. On July 11, 2019, the South Carolina Department of Correction…

Facing Prison-Conditions Court Challenge, South Carolina Moves Its Death Row to a New Facility
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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: 39
  • 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: 4,625,364
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 7.8
  • 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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