A Richland County judge says capital punishment by firing squad or the electric chair would violate South Carolina's constitution. Circuit Judge Jocelyn Newman issued the ruling in the lawsuit brought by "Justice 360," a non-profit network of lawyers, in behalf of South Carolina's death row inmates.
It was a Spartanburg inmate who had chosen to die in the electric chair, if the prison system is still unable to procure lethal injection drugs. Saying the state "has turned back the clock" on capital punishment, the judge has ordered a permanent injunction against firing squad or electric chair.
That judge feels each method violates the South Carolina prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and that the recent legislation to allow those methods is also constitutionally invalid. A statement from the attorneys representing the inmates says, they anticipate that the Governor's Office and State Dept. Of Corrections will appeal Judge Newman's decision.