South Carolina on Friday executed 67-year-old Brad Sigmon by firing squad – the first person in the state’s modern history to die by this method and only the fourth in the U.S. since 1977.
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 and Leonard:
“Knowing that he was going to die, Brad Sigmon used his final statement to call on his fellow people of faith to end the death penalty and spare the lives of the 28 men still locked up on South Carolina’s death row.
Brad’s death was horrifying and violent. He chose the firing squad knowing that three bullets would shatter his bones and destroy his heart. But that was the only choice he had, after the state’s three executions by lethal injection inflicted prolonged and potentially torturous deaths on men he loved like brothers.
He might have made a different choice if the state had not been allowed to conceal why their drugs have never worked as the Department of Corrections had sworn they would. Brad only wanted assurances that these drugs were not expired, or diluted, or spoiled—what any of us would want to know about the medication we take, or the food we eat, much less the means of our death.
It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle. But South Carolina has ended the life of a man who has devoted himself to his faith, and to ministry and service to all around him. Brad admitted his guilt at trial and shared his deep grief for his crimes with his jury and, in the years since, with everyone who knew him.
In 23 years on death row, Brad committed no acts of violence. In 23 years on death row, Brad devoted himself every day to prayer and repentance. In these last days of his 23 years on death row, Brad spent hours kneeling on the floor of his cell so he could write letters to the family and friends for whom he has been a wellspring of love and support. For his last meal, he requested three buckets of Original Recipe KFC so he could feed the men locked up with him. That request was denied. But Brad’s love for his brothers, his family, his friends, and the men and women who have guarded him is undeniable. It is a shame that South Carolina has not lived up the example that Brad has set for all of us during his final days.”
Brad Sigmon’s last words:
“I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.
An eye for an eye was used as justification to the jury for seeking the death penalty. At that time, I was too ignorant to know how wrong that was. Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law but now live under the New Testament.
Matthew 5:38-39 says “You have heard that it has been said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ but I say unto you that you do not resist an evil person. Whosoever shall smite me on the right cheek, turn to him the other one as well.”
Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are no longer under the law but under grace.”
Nowhere does God in the New Testament give man the authority to kill another man. That is why the Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Remember the words of Jesus, John 7:19, “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keep with the law. We are now under God’s grace and mercy.”
