Sigmon's attorney said autopsy results from Marion Bowman's Jan. 31 execution released earlier this week showed he needed twice the dose of the lethal injection drug typically used in other states and by the federal government, according to court papers filed Wednesday with the state Supreme Court.
Previous arguments that the state didn't release enough information about the lethal injection drugs have been rejected by the South Carolina Supreme Court after state officials said fluid is often found in the lungs of prisoners killed by lethal injection.
They said Sigmon was forced into choosing a brutal death in what would be the first firing squad execution in the U.S. since 2010 because he feared the state's lethal injection procedure — if carried out improperly — would leave him to drown from an accumulation of fluid in his lungs.
Lawyers for Brad Sigmon said he is being forced to choose a violent death by firing squad because without more information he thinks he could die a tortuous death if he picked lethal injection.
A South Carolina man who is scheduled to die next week by firing squad is again asking that his execution be postponed and prison officials release more information about the state's lethal injection drug and procedures.
