Execution Horror: South Carolina Inmate Left Gasping After Botched Firing Squad

Lawyers for a South Carolina death row inmate are sounding the alarm after what they describe as a botched firing squad execution that allegedly left the man conscious and in agony after bullets missed his heart according to newly filed legal documents Execution Horror South Carolina Inmate Left Gasping After Botched Firing Squad The inmate Kenneth Williams was executed last month in what was only the second firing squad execution carried out in the United States in over a decade While bureaucrats declared the execution triumphant and within protocol witness accounts and post-mortem evidence reportedly tell a different alarming story According to his legal club bullets struck Williams in the lower torso and abdomen instead of the heart causing a slow and painful death that violated the Eighth Amendment s ban on cruel and strange punishment He was conscious gasping and suffering for nearly minutes commented attorney Lisa Franklin in a message This was not justice It was torture Bystanders to the execution including media representatives and a spiritual advisor have also submitted affidavits indicating that Williams appeared to grimace convulse and remain alert far longer than expected The South Carolina Department of Corrections has not yet commented on the new legal insists but previously stated that the execution was carried out according to the procedures developed under the state s firing squad protocol Firing squad executions were reinstated in South Carolina as an alternative due to difficulties obtaining lethal injection drugs Under state law inmates may choose among lethal injection electrocution or firing squad Williams had selected the firing squad reportedly under protest after alleging all available options were unconstitutional His legal squad is now calling for an independent scrutiny a full autopsy review and a moratorium on further executions by firing squad The episode has reignited national debate around execution methods and prompted civil rights organisations to demand federal oversight of state execution protocols