Sigmon
Attorneys for death row inmate Brad Sigmon have filed a motion with the South Carolina Supreme Court requesting a stay of his execution and to reconsider whether the information the state currently provides about its lethal injection drugs is sufficient for condemned prisoners to elect the least inhumane method of execution, as guaranteed by state law. The filing follows the release of Marion Bowman Jr.’s autopsy report.
According to the autopsy, Bowman, who was executed on January 31, 2025, was administered twice the amount of pentobarbital that SCDC has sworn in court as “sufficient” for an execution. Bowman was not declared dead until more than 20 minutes and experienced pulmonary edema, just like Richard Moore who was executed on November 1, 2024.
In response, Gerald “Bo” King, Chief of the Capital Habeas Unit for the Fourth Circuit, which is part of the Federal Public Defender’s Office in the Western District of North Carolina, issued the following statement on behalf of Brad’s legal team, which includes Josh Kendrick of Kendrick Leonard:
“The evidence is now undeniable: something is badly wrong with South Carolina’s lethal injection drugs. The Department of Corrections has repeatedly sworn that they can humanely carry out an execution by lethal injection with a “single dose of pentobarbital.” But the autopsies of Marion Bowman Jr and Richard Moore prove otherwise. Both men died only after South Carolina had injected them with two doses. Both men were strapped to a gurney for more than twenty minutes before they were declared dead. And the lungs of both men were massively swollen with blood and fluid.
Brad Sigmon has repeatedly asked for the basic facts needed to determine if South Carolina’s drugs are expired, diluted, or spoiled. He has thus far been denied. He chose the firing squad because he was unwilling to risk the prolonged, torturous death that he fears his friends endured. Mr. Bowman’s autopsy confirms that those fears were justified.
Mr. Sigmon has now asked the Supreme Court of South Carolina to reconsider its earlier denial of his stay motion and objection to the Department of Corrections' certifications concerning lethal injection, which Mr. Bowman’s autopsy confirms are incomplete and inaccurate.
Mr. Sigmon does not believe that the South Carolina General Assembly or Courts intended for prisoners who elected execution by lethal injection to go through what Mr. Bowman and Mr. Moore apparently suffered. And Mr. Sigmon does not believe that the assembly or courts intended for the prisoner to base his choice of method on what has been concealed about the other.
Mr. Sigmon urges the Court to require the Department of Corrections to provide a certificate that actually provides the basic facts needed to assess, and identify problems with, the quality and reliability of its lethal injection drugs. No condemned prisoner should be forced to choose the means of their death without that information. Mr. Sigmon urges the Supreme Court of South Carolina to stay his execution until the Department of Corrections has disclosed the facts needed to reveal what is wrong with South Carolina's lethal injection drugs.”
