2 South Carolina executions halted until firing squad formed

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the planned executions of two inmates by electrocution, saying they cannot be put to death until they truly have the choice of a firing squad option set out in the state’s newly revised capital punishment law.

The executions were scheduled less than a month after the passage of a new law compelling the condemned to choose between electrocution or a firing squad if lethal injection drugs aren’t available. The statute is aimed at restarting executions after an involuntary 10-year pause that the state attributes to an inability to procure the drugs. Prisons officials previously said they still can’t get hold of lethal injection drugs and have yet to put together a firing squad, leaving the 109-year-old electric chair as the only option. "The department is moving ahead with creating policies and procedures for a firing squad," Chrysti Shain, a spokeswoman for the South Carolina Department of Corrections, said in a statement Wednesday. "We are looking to other states for guidance through this process. We will notify the court when a firing squad becomes an option for executions."