November 14, 2025 • 16 mins
Tonight, South Carolina executes its 7th inmate in less than 14 months. Convicted murderer, 44 year old Stephen Bryant has chosen to die by standing with a hood over his head, as three volunteer marksman fire at him from 15 feet away. More than 20 years ago, Bryant notoriously taunted investigators and the daughter of his victim, Willard “TJ” Tietjen by writing “catch me if you can” on the wall with his victim’s blood. Police say over the next several days, Bryant went on to kill at least two more people before being apprehended. He is the third man to die by firing squad in South Carolina this year.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, folks, it is Friday, November fourteenth, and as this
episode is being posted, a hood is being placed over
a man's head in South Carolina. Three other men are
standing fifteen feet away and are preparing to fire. And
with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
(00:23):
I described there what's happening robes in South Carolina in
their death chamber where we are seeing, yet again, not
just another execution. We are seeing specifically a firing squad
execution tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yes, and this is the third execution by firing squad
in the state of South Carolina this year alone.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
There is a reason for that, and we will explain.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
This is also the second execution of the week in
this country.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
It was supposed to be the third.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And this is South Carolina's seventh execution in less than
fourteen months. They are right there, just behind Florida in
terms of the number of inmates that they are executing
this year.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Hook they've got the drugs they need, now, they have
the methods they need, and they have the governors. Quite frankly,
they need to be signing these death warrants and that's
why we're seeing so much of that this year.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yes, his name is Stephen Bryant.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
He's forty four years old, and yes, he chose to
die by firing squad. This will be South Carolina's fiftieth
inmate to be put to death since it restarted the
death penalty in nineteen eighty five. His crime killing three
people over a period of five days, and notably notoriously
writing catch me if you can.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
On the wall with the blood from one of his victims.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yet, this isn't one of those cases where the innocence
project is jumping on it necessarily questioning whether or not
he committed the crime. That's not where we are. But
there are still some questions and some legal questions and reasons.
People thought he might or should be taken off death
row as well.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
His lawyers argued that the judge who sentenced him to
die never took into consideration or never heard that he
actually suffered as an infant from fetal alcohol syndrome.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So they said that his brain was severely damaged from
his mother's alcohol and drug use while she was pregnant
with him. They took his case all the way up
to the Supreme Court, but they rejected it. This week
in South Carolina writing and then this was by any stretch,
Bryant demonstrated a high level of planning, decision making, and calculation.
(02:35):
So they refused to hear his appeal, and last month
the US Supreme Court also refused to hear his case.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
This wasn't impulsive stuff, they argue, where you could say
his brain wasn't functioning a certain way. It was functioning
just fine to plan even taunted authorities. But there was
a lot of planning and trying to get away with
what he was doing, which didn't signal that this was
what they were saying. They said, this was just give
you a It might change the reason he did what
(03:03):
he did, but it doesn't change that he did it,
and he's still responsible.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Correct someone who is so severely brain damaged to have
that kind of thought and planning and the decision to
take it up, not just obviously killing three people, but
then taunting authorities.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
That takes a certain level of.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Brain power that they were saying, you can't you can't
just pass this off as fetal alcohol syndrome.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
It's not gonna fly with us.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
But he is actually being executed for a specific killing.
He killed Willard TJ. Tiet Jen in his home. This
happened in two thousand and four, and when you hear
what he did, it's pretty heinous. Investigators say that Bryant
actually burned TJ's eyes with cigarettes after he shot him,
(03:47):
and then took his blood and painted catch me if
you can and other taunting messages for investigators and police
after he killed this man. He also this was a
detailed dipped a potholder made by his daughter when she
was a child in his own blood and left it there.
And there was also reports of a chilling phone call
(04:10):
because TJ's daughter was calling him. She couldn't get him
to answer. She was calling him several times, and finally,
according to authorities, Bryant answered the phone and what he
said to her is disturbing.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
She testified.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
His daughter at trial said that she testified a strange
voice finally answered and said you can't I killed him.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And she replied, this isn't funny.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Here were you?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And he said I'm the prowler and she said, excuse me,
who are you? And she said, he just repeated I'm
the prowler.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Again. This is not that case where people are questioning
and wondering and guilt and evidence mishandled and didn't get
the right to turn. This isn't one of those things,
like you said, he's being executed for a specific crime,
but he's taken at least three he confirmed killed, but
he was talking about you killed more.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So prosecutors say, right now, what they know of is
he shot and killed two men that he was giving
rides to. So essentially it sounds like they may he
may have picked them up, but they needed a ride,
and according to police, when they stepped out of his
truck to use the restroom, he shot and killed them
(05:24):
for no apparent reason. So and they talk about how
this truly terrorized this area of South Carolina, Sumter County
over a period of five days. But the execution is
for that specific case. You were asking me, is he
now considered a serial killer? Is what is the classification
(05:44):
for somebody who does this sort of thing? And I
actually looked up the FBI criteria. It was interesting. I
didn't realize this. Do you know the difference between a
mass murder, a spree killer, and a serial killer.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
It's time. It's just a matter of how much time passes.
We know what a mass killing. Everybody's familiar with that
at this point. A spree killing is a short period
of time, a serial killer is a longer period of time,
and that's kind of it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, you know, I didn't realize it. Obviously it's two
or more to have, obviously being more than just a
typical homicide, but I didn't realize. Yeah, it's the cooling
off period that they describe as the difference between a
spree killer and a serial killer. A serial killer actually
takes as much as a month off in between killings.
A spree killer just is on a role, so to
(06:31):
speak to lack of a better term, And so this
happened over a five day period of time, and so
they technically are referring to him as a spree killer.
I was not familiar with the distinction among those three
types of killers. When we come back, we're going to
talk about We mentioned he chose the firing squad, so
did two other inmates. That doesn't seem like something someone
(06:54):
would choose, but there is a very real reason why
these inmates chose to die by firing squad, and we'll
tell you why and how it's all going to take place,
and continuing our conversation about what is happening right now,
(07:17):
actually in South Carolina as you're listening to this, forty
four year old Stephen Bryant has chosen to die by
firing squad scheduled at six pm Eastern time tonight on Friday.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
He lost all of his appeals.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
This is somebody who police say is a spree killer,
killed at least three people, but is dying over a
very specific murder of.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
A man. It was a heinous killing. Willard TJ.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Tanjin in his own home and taunted authorities by writing
messages in his victim's blood on the wall for them
to see. But he has chosen to die by firing squad.
The third man, as we mentioned, to die by fire
squad in the state of South Carolina. The last one
we saw was in April, and before that in March,
and before that, the firing squad had not been used
(08:08):
since twenty ten. But there's a reason why it's back,
and that is because South Carolina was among those states
that had trouble getting the drug that they needed to
perform lethal injections. And then of course there was all
of that controversy about how humane it was that the
drugs were being given in the wrong order, or weren't
(08:29):
the right amount, or weren't the right drugs, and so
that inmates who were being executed were dying in a
cruel and unusual way. That it was they were suffering,
so to speak. I didn't realize this. South Carolina had
a long hiatus, did you. They just reinstated the death
penalty last year, or at least resumed executions last year.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah, it's in a dozen years. They at least they've
held off. That's a that's a pretty good build up
of death row inmates if your stop executions.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yes, yeah, So they had an unintentional, as how they
described it, thirteen year hiatus.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
They couldn't get the drugs needed for lethal injection.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
The companies didn't or certain companies didn't want to provide it,
who had certain feelings about the death penalty.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
A lot of places had these problems that combined with
court rulings about this being cruel and unusual, so they
just held off. A lot of folks stopped. So, yeah,
they started giving inmates the option of a firing squad,
and they have been taking that option. It was this,
it was a firing squad. It was electric chair or
(09:36):
lethal injection and he needed to give an answer because
they were going to pick for them, and they were
going to pick the old school method. It defaults to
the electric chair if you don't pick something, So we
chose the firing squad. Look, we've seen several reports and
I'm sure he's aware of them as well as lawyers are,
that some of those lethal injections, even in this year,
recent years, they sound horrible. They sound like a horrible experience. Look,
(10:00):
dyeing like this has to be uncomfortable to a certain degree,
but they just it seems like there's a lot of
pain and discomfort in those.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yes, by all accounts, because when you have these executions,
you have witnesses, and so they come out, they speak
to reporters and they tell people what they saw. And
we have seen numerous reports over the years of reporters
describing inmates suffering before they die. Now, we also there
was an issue with the firing squad.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Correct, Yeah, they if you miss the target, if you will,
there was one there, it's designed to actually just shred
and rip the heart apart as quickly as possible for
you to die. But if you're off a little bit,
which was the allegation, I can't remember which one it was,
but yes, it took someone longer to die because it
(10:48):
had to go through more of a process of filling
up the lungs with blood. And it was a longer
death because it didn't hit the target. So you got
three people there firing at a target on right smack
dab on the heart and fifteen feet away volunteers.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
They say they are now do all three have bullets
or does just one have bullet? And among the three
they don't know which one fired the fatal shop.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I believe they're all loaded. That's something we see right
in movies.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yes, that's why I was saying that we all.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Three of these I believe are live rounds.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yes, and the fact that the state also has an
electric chair is quite aery. Now this is in Colombia.
This is the exact I don't know if it's the
exact same room, and I don't know where they do
the firing squo, but this is where I witnessed a
lethal injection in Colombia. At god, this had to be
back in the early nineteen nineties, but certainly it is.
(11:41):
You take a vow of silence, you take a bus
out to this separate facility, and it is a solemn event,
regardless of how you feel about the death penalty. This
is something that everyone takes seriously who takes part in
this type of execution. But outside of South Carolina, I
didn't realize this. Do you know how rare, rare firing
(12:01):
squads have been?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, only Utah has carried it out only before South
Carolina started this year, and I think it was three
since seventy six.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yes, and you just nailed it.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yes, only three prisoners in the United States have been
executed by firing squads since yeah, nineteen seventy seven, and
they were all in this state of Utah and most recently, yeah,
twenty ten. So this year has been a heck of
a year for South Carolina using that firing squad three
different times, happening again today, and you know, it's it's
(12:33):
a I can't imagine being asked. And we've had folks
who say they want one method of execution and then
get scared because they hear a story, there's a report
there have been so many executions this year that they
try to change their mind and the state won't let them.
Once you've made your call about what or how you
want to die, you kind of have to stick with it.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And that makes sense because a lot of preparation has
to go into this, and that makes sense that general
might kind of remember which state. But yeah, he made
the argument he chose lethal injection, but he he uses
that as a grounds of trying to get clemency. Was saying, hey,
there was a lot of information I didn't know about
this ahead of time. Well that's just sol at that point,
but yeah, it's it's some of the details about the
(13:17):
experiences some folks have and how long they've been alive afterwards,
how long they were uncomfortable, the way their bodies were gyrating,
heads going up. One guy even said that Buck can't
remember the quote, but we told them, hey, I am
in pain. This hurts so bad while it's going on.
So the firing squad is terrifying. I would prefer you
(13:38):
all to shoot me in the heart then to go
through just a.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Needle in my arm.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
That goes to show the level of fear that has
now arisen around lethal injection.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
But I thought it was pretty interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
A couple weeks back, and again, we have been covering
executions quite extensively because there have been a record nonumber
of executions this year. It is staggering the number we
have had this year versus in years past. But one judge,
in reading an appeal from someone trying to say, hey,
can you commute my death penalty to life in prison
(14:14):
saying in citing this unfair pain, this cruel, unusual punishment,
and the judge said, if you're going to die, you
have to expect a reasonable amount of pain that comes
with death. You can't escape it. So that was not
an argument in her mind, and I thought it was
actually a fairly logical point she's making. If you are
going to die, most people don't get to die without pain.
(14:36):
You are not any you know, any different than anyone else.
This is expected, This is what comes with death.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Cruel and unusual doesn't mean comfortable, And that's you have
to We're deciding to kill somebody, and I want to
make sure you're as comfortable as possible. I know, here's
a nice pillow. Now it's not exactly so that judge,
the one you're talking about, I remember, and all these
arguments and all this stuff we read. It was very
plain spoken and I appreciated it.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yes, And sometimes that's what it takes you've got, you know,
all of these You've got lengthy appeals processes for all
of these inmates to try and make sure that their
due process was correctly and stated. However, it's you see
these last minute appeals. No one wants to die. Very
few people go into that death chamber, even though they've
committed the crimes they've done, Even those who have admitted
(15:23):
the heinous crimes that they have committed. Very few do
we see anyone just go in and say I deserve this,
let's get this over with. They fight like hell to
the very end to try and stop it overwhelmingly.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But I know you remember too. It was the guy.
He's the only one in Floyda. It was the one
before this one. He's the only guy in Florida this
year to skip all of the appeals. He just said, Nah,
well can't remember his name. But he's the only one
involved this year who has done that.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So yes, it's incredibly rare, and why yeah, you think,
But when it comes to the end, when your time
is up, you can see these folks are fighting to
stay alive. They are human nature.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
It is human nature. That's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
But yes, so far forty two people and he will
be number forty three. Last year, by the way, twenty
five in all of twenty twenty four. So this has
been an exceptional year and we've been bringing you all
the details.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Believe it's five I think scheduled for December, so.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
We have more to come.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
But we'll see what twenty twenty six springs. But there
are a lot of folks who are already scheduled. We've
already seen the list growing for next year. This is
not going away anytime soon, regardless of how you feel.
This is how we deal with our most violent offenders
in this country. And with that everyone, thank you for
joining us. I'm am Roboch alongside TJ.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Holmes. Hope you have a nice night.
Hey, folks, it is Friday, November fourteenth, and as this
episode is being posted, a hood is being placed over
a man's head in South Carolina. Three other men are
standing fifteen feet away and are preparing to fire. And
with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
(00:23):
I described there what's happening robes in South Carolina in
their death chamber where we are seeing, yet again, not
just another execution. We are seeing specifically a firing squad
execution tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yes, and this is the third execution by firing squad
in the state of South Carolina this year alone.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
There is a reason for that, and we will explain.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
This is also the second execution of the week in
this country.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
It was supposed to be the third.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And this is South Carolina's seventh execution in less than
fourteen months. They are right there, just behind Florida in
terms of the number of inmates that they are executing
this year.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Hook they've got the drugs they need, now, they have
the methods they need, and they have the governors. Quite frankly,
they need to be signing these death warrants and that's
why we're seeing so much of that this year.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yes, his name is Stephen Bryant.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
He's forty four years old, and yes, he chose to
die by firing squad. This will be South Carolina's fiftieth
inmate to be put to death since it restarted the
death penalty in nineteen eighty five. His crime killing three
people over a period of five days, and notably notoriously
writing catch me if you can.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
On the wall with the blood from one of his victims.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yet, this isn't one of those cases where the innocence
project is jumping on it necessarily questioning whether or not
he committed the crime. That's not where we are. But
there are still some questions and some legal questions and reasons.
People thought he might or should be taken off death
row as well.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
His lawyers argued that the judge who sentenced him to
die never took into consideration or never heard that he
actually suffered as an infant from fetal alcohol syndrome.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So they said that his brain was severely damaged from
his mother's alcohol and drug use while she was pregnant
with him. They took his case all the way up
to the Supreme Court, but they rejected it. This week
in South Carolina writing and then this was by any stretch,
Bryant demonstrated a high level of planning, decision making, and calculation.
(02:35):
So they refused to hear his appeal, and last month
the US Supreme Court also refused to hear his case.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
This wasn't impulsive stuff, they argue, where you could say
his brain wasn't functioning a certain way. It was functioning
just fine to plan even taunted authorities. But there was
a lot of planning and trying to get away with
what he was doing, which didn't signal that this was
what they were saying. They said, this was just give
you a It might change the reason he did what
(03:03):
he did, but it doesn't change that he did it,
and he's still responsible.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Correct someone who is so severely brain damaged to have
that kind of thought and planning and the decision to
take it up, not just obviously killing three people, but
then taunting authorities.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
That takes a certain level of.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Brain power that they were saying, you can't you can't
just pass this off as fetal alcohol syndrome.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
It's not gonna fly with us.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
But he is actually being executed for a specific killing.
He killed Willard TJ. Tiet Jen in his home. This
happened in two thousand and four, and when you hear
what he did, it's pretty heinous. Investigators say that Bryant
actually burned TJ's eyes with cigarettes after he shot him,
(03:47):
and then took his blood and painted catch me if
you can and other taunting messages for investigators and police
after he killed this man. He also this was a
detailed dipped a potholder made by his daughter when she
was a child in his own blood and left it there.
And there was also reports of a chilling phone call
(04:10):
because TJ's daughter was calling him. She couldn't get him
to answer. She was calling him several times, and finally,
according to authorities, Bryant answered the phone and what he
said to her is disturbing.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
She testified.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
His daughter at trial said that she testified a strange
voice finally answered and said you can't I killed him.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And she replied, this isn't funny.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Here were you?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And he said I'm the prowler and she said, excuse me,
who are you? And she said, he just repeated I'm
the prowler.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Again. This is not that case where people are questioning
and wondering and guilt and evidence mishandled and didn't get
the right to turn. This isn't one of those things,
like you said, he's being executed for a specific crime,
but he's taken at least three he confirmed killed, but
he was talking about you killed more.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So prosecutors say, right now, what they know of is
he shot and killed two men that he was giving
rides to. So essentially it sounds like they may he
may have picked them up, but they needed a ride,
and according to police, when they stepped out of his
truck to use the restroom, he shot and killed them
(05:24):
for no apparent reason. So and they talk about how
this truly terrorized this area of South Carolina, Sumter County
over a period of five days. But the execution is
for that specific case. You were asking me, is he
now considered a serial killer? Is what is the classification
(05:44):
for somebody who does this sort of thing? And I
actually looked up the FBI criteria. It was interesting. I
didn't realize this. Do you know the difference between a
mass murder, a spree killer, and a serial killer.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
It's time. It's just a matter of how much time passes.
We know what a mass killing. Everybody's familiar with that
at this point. A spree killing is a short period
of time, a serial killer is a longer period of time,
and that's kind of it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, you know, I didn't realize it. Obviously it's two
or more to have, obviously being more than just a
typical homicide, but I didn't realize. Yeah, it's the cooling
off period that they describe as the difference between a
spree killer and a serial killer. A serial killer actually
takes as much as a month off in between killings.
A spree killer just is on a role, so to
(06:31):
speak to lack of a better term, And so this
happened over a five day period of time, and so
they technically are referring to him as a spree killer.
I was not familiar with the distinction among those three
types of killers. When we come back, we're going to
talk about We mentioned he chose the firing squad, so
did two other inmates. That doesn't seem like something someone
(06:54):
would choose, but there is a very real reason why
these inmates chose to die by firing squad, and we'll
tell you why and how it's all going to take place,
and continuing our conversation about what is happening right now,
(07:17):
actually in South Carolina as you're listening to this, forty
four year old Stephen Bryant has chosen to die by
firing squad scheduled at six pm Eastern time tonight on Friday.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
He lost all of his appeals.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
This is somebody who police say is a spree killer,
killed at least three people, but is dying over a
very specific murder of.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
A man. It was a heinous killing. Willard TJ.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Tanjin in his own home and taunted authorities by writing
messages in his victim's blood on the wall for them
to see. But he has chosen to die by firing squad.
The third man, as we mentioned, to die by fire
squad in the state of South Carolina. The last one
we saw was in April, and before that in March,
and before that, the firing squad had not been used
(08:08):
since twenty ten. But there's a reason why it's back,
and that is because South Carolina was among those states
that had trouble getting the drug that they needed to
perform lethal injections. And then of course there was all
of that controversy about how humane it was that the
drugs were being given in the wrong order, or weren't
(08:29):
the right amount, or weren't the right drugs, and so
that inmates who were being executed were dying in a
cruel and unusual way. That it was they were suffering,
so to speak. I didn't realize this. South Carolina had
a long hiatus, did you. They just reinstated the death
penalty last year, or at least resumed executions last year.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah, it's in a dozen years. They at least they've
held off. That's a that's a pretty good build up
of death row inmates if your stop executions.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yes, yeah, So they had an unintentional, as how they
described it, thirteen year hiatus.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
They couldn't get the drugs needed for lethal injection.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
The companies didn't or certain companies didn't want to provide it,
who had certain feelings about the death penalty.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
A lot of places had these problems that combined with
court rulings about this being cruel and unusual, so they
just held off. A lot of folks stopped. So, yeah,
they started giving inmates the option of a firing squad,
and they have been taking that option. It was this,
it was a firing squad. It was electric chair or
(09:36):
lethal injection and he needed to give an answer because
they were going to pick for them, and they were
going to pick the old school method. It defaults to
the electric chair if you don't pick something, So we
chose the firing squad. Look, we've seen several reports and
I'm sure he's aware of them as well as lawyers are,
that some of those lethal injections, even in this year,
recent years, they sound horrible. They sound like a horrible experience. Look,
(10:00):
dyeing like this has to be uncomfortable to a certain degree,
but they just it seems like there's a lot of
pain and discomfort in those.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yes, by all accounts, because when you have these executions,
you have witnesses, and so they come out, they speak
to reporters and they tell people what they saw. And
we have seen numerous reports over the years of reporters
describing inmates suffering before they die. Now, we also there
was an issue with the firing squad.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Correct, Yeah, they if you miss the target, if you will,
there was one there, it's designed to actually just shred
and rip the heart apart as quickly as possible for
you to die. But if you're off a little bit,
which was the allegation, I can't remember which one it was,
but yes, it took someone longer to die because it
(10:48):
had to go through more of a process of filling
up the lungs with blood. And it was a longer
death because it didn't hit the target. So you got
three people there firing at a target on right smack
dab on the heart and fifteen feet away volunteers.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
They say they are now do all three have bullets
or does just one have bullet? And among the three
they don't know which one fired the fatal shop.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I believe they're all loaded. That's something we see right
in movies.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yes, that's why I was saying that we all.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Three of these I believe are live rounds.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yes, and the fact that the state also has an
electric chair is quite aery. Now this is in Colombia.
This is the exact I don't know if it's the
exact same room, and I don't know where they do
the firing squo, but this is where I witnessed a
lethal injection in Colombia. At god, this had to be
back in the early nineteen nineties, but certainly it is.
(11:41):
You take a vow of silence, you take a bus
out to this separate facility, and it is a solemn event,
regardless of how you feel about the death penalty. This
is something that everyone takes seriously who takes part in
this type of execution. But outside of South Carolina, I
didn't realize this. Do you know how rare, rare firing
(12:01):
squads have been?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, only Utah has carried it out only before South
Carolina started this year, and I think it was three
since seventy six.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yes, and you just nailed it.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yes, only three prisoners in the United States have been
executed by firing squads since yeah, nineteen seventy seven, and
they were all in this state of Utah and most recently, yeah,
twenty ten. So this year has been a heck of
a year for South Carolina using that firing squad three
different times, happening again today, and you know, it's it's
(12:33):
a I can't imagine being asked. And we've had folks
who say they want one method of execution and then
get scared because they hear a story, there's a report
there have been so many executions this year that they
try to change their mind and the state won't let them.
Once you've made your call about what or how you
want to die, you kind of have to stick with it.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And that makes sense because a lot of preparation has
to go into this, and that makes sense that general
might kind of remember which state. But yeah, he made
the argument he chose lethal injection, but he he uses
that as a grounds of trying to get clemency. Was saying, hey,
there was a lot of information I didn't know about
this ahead of time. Well that's just sol at that point,
but yeah, it's it's some of the details about the
(13:17):
experiences some folks have and how long they've been alive afterwards,
how long they were uncomfortable, the way their bodies were gyrating,
heads going up. One guy even said that Buck can't
remember the quote, but we told them, hey, I am
in pain. This hurts so bad while it's going on.
So the firing squad is terrifying. I would prefer you
(13:38):
all to shoot me in the heart then to go
through just a.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Needle in my arm.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
That goes to show the level of fear that has
now arisen around lethal injection.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
But I thought it was pretty interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
A couple weeks back, and again, we have been covering
executions quite extensively because there have been a record nonumber
of executions this year. It is staggering the number we
have had this year versus in years past. But one judge,
in reading an appeal from someone trying to say, hey,
can you commute my death penalty to life in prison
(14:14):
saying in citing this unfair pain, this cruel, unusual punishment,
and the judge said, if you're going to die, you
have to expect a reasonable amount of pain that comes
with death. You can't escape it. So that was not
an argument in her mind, and I thought it was
actually a fairly logical point she's making. If you are
going to die, most people don't get to die without pain.
(14:36):
You are not any you know, any different than anyone else.
This is expected, This is what comes with death.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Cruel and unusual doesn't mean comfortable, And that's you have
to We're deciding to kill somebody, and I want to
make sure you're as comfortable as possible. I know, here's
a nice pillow. Now it's not exactly so that judge,
the one you're talking about, I remember, and all these
arguments and all this stuff we read. It was very
plain spoken and I appreciated it.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yes, And sometimes that's what it takes you've got, you know,
all of these You've got lengthy appeals processes for all
of these inmates to try and make sure that their
due process was correctly and stated. However, it's you see
these last minute appeals. No one wants to die. Very
few people go into that death chamber, even though they've
committed the crimes they've done, Even those who have admitted
(15:23):
the heinous crimes that they have committed. Very few do
we see anyone just go in and say I deserve this,
let's get this over with. They fight like hell to
the very end to try and stop it overwhelmingly.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But I know you remember too. It was the guy.
He's the only one in Floyda. It was the one
before this one. He's the only guy in Florida this
year to skip all of the appeals. He just said, Nah,
well can't remember his name. But he's the only one
involved this year who has done that.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So yes, it's incredibly rare, and why yeah, you think,
But when it comes to the end, when your time
is up, you can see these folks are fighting to
stay alive. They are human nature.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
It is human nature. That's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
But yes, so far forty two people and he will
be number forty three. Last year, by the way, twenty
five in all of twenty twenty four. So this has
been an exceptional year and we've been bringing you all
the details.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Believe it's five I think scheduled for December, so.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
We have more to come.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
But we'll see what twenty twenty six springs. But there
are a lot of folks who are already scheduled. We've
already seen the list growing for next year. This is
not going away anytime soon, regardless of how you feel.
This is how we deal with our most violent offenders
in this country. And with that everyone, thank you for
joining us. I'm am Roboch alongside TJ.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Holmes. Hope you have a nice night.
Hosts And Creators
Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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