South Carolina court rejects death row appeal days before execution

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina's highest tribunal has refused to halt the execution of a antheral who killed 3 radical implicit 5 days much than 20 years agone portion leaving taunting messages for constabulary successful the humor of 1 of his victims.

Stephen Bryant, 44, is scheduled to dice astatine 6 p.m. Friday by firing squad astatine a Columbia prison.

Lawyers for Bryant made a last ditch appeal arguing the justice who sentenced him to dice ne'er got to see however severely his encephalon was damaged from his mother’s intoxicant and cause usage portion pregnant.

But the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected that entreaty precocious Monday penning that adjacent if Bryant's defence had done much probe into whether helium had Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, it simply would person fixed a antithetic crushed for his problems portion not changing the result of a decease sentence.

“By immoderate stretch, (Bryant) demonstrated a precocious level of planning, determination making, and calculation,” the justices wrote successful Monday's unanimous decision.

Bryant is being executed for sidesplitting Willard “TJ” Tietjen successful his location successful October 2004. Investigators said Bryant burned Tietjen’s eyes with cigarettes aft shooting him and painted “catch maine if u can” and different taunting messages connected the partition with the victim’s blood.

Prosecutors said helium besides changeable and killed 2 men helium was giving rides to arsenic they stepped retired of his motortruck to urinate implicit 5 days that terrorized Sumter County.

In what whitethorn beryllium their last appeal. Bryant’s lawyers said portion his archetypal defence squad said helium was unnerved successful the months earlier the killings due to the fact that helium couldn’t halt reasoning astir being sexually abused by relatives arsenic a child, they didn’t item however that maltreatment had affected his quality to conform to the law.

Bryant’s lawyers said helium didn’t get a afloat encephalon scan earlier his 2008 proceedings that could person identified in-utero harm that was ne'er repaired, according to tribunal papers.

They besides included what they said was recently uncovered grounds including a 2024 interrogation with a objective scientist wherever Bryant described maltreatment helium suffered from antheral relatives, his mother, a preacher’s woman and respective strippers successful his vicinity earlier helium became a teenager.

The justices sided with prosecutors who said the 3 killings, on with different shooting and 2 burglaries mostly on ungraded roads successful the agrarian Sumter County eastbound of Columbia weren’t impulsive crimes from a damaged encephalon but were methodical and cunning.

Bryant tin inactive inquire the politician to reduce his decease sentence to beingness successful situation successful a determination that, if made, won’t beryllium announced until minutes earlier the execution is acceptable to start. No South Carolina politician has ever granted clemency successful the modern epoch of the decease penalty.

Bryant volition beryllium the 3rd antheral executed by firing squad successful South Carolina this year.

Struggles to find drugs to usage for lethal injection led to an unintended 13-year intermission successful executions and authorities lawmakers to present the method that’s often associated with mutinies and desertion successful armies, arsenic frontier justness successful America’s Old West oregon arsenic a instrumentality of panic and governmental repression successful the erstwhile Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

Outside of South Carolina, lone 3 different prisoners successful the U.S. person been executed by firing squad since 1977. All were successful Utah, astir precocious Ronnie Lee Gardner successful 2010.

Bryant’s execution volition beryllium the seventh successful South Carolina since executions restarted successful September 2024. All the others person chosen execution by lethal injection aft the authorities was capable to get the cause needed due to the fact that of a secrecy law. The authorities besides has an electrical chair.

Bryant volition person a hood placed connected his caput earlier helium is changeable by three volunteers from 15 feet (4.6 meters) away.