Stephen Bryant, 44, faces a chilling fate this Friday, November 14th. After nearly seventeen years on death row, he has chosen to meet his end by firing squad – a method vanishingly rare in modern America. His final appeals have been exhausted, leaving a stark reality looming as the execution date approaches.
Bryant’s crimes were brutal and calculated. In 2004, over just eight days, he claimed the lives of three men. His callousness reached a horrifying peak with Willard ‘TJ’ Tietjen, a 62-year-old man shot nine times after Bryant feigned a roadside breakdown. The scene that followed was one of unimaginable cruelty: a ransacked home, Tietjen’s eyes burned with cigarettes, and a macabre message scrawled on the wall in the victim’s own blood – “victem 4 in 2 weeks. catch me if u can.”
He confessed to the killings, and in 2008, a court sentenced him to death on three separate murder convictions. Years were spent navigating appeals, each attempt to overturn the sentence ultimately failing. South Carolina law offered a grim choice: lethal injection, the electric chair, or the firing squad. Bryant selected the latter, placing him among a small number of condemned individuals to face this archaic form of punishment in recent history.
The executioners are drawn from within the corrections system or local law enforcement. They aren’t simply assigned; they volunteer. In Utah, the 2010 execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner was carried out by certified law enforcement officers. South Carolina’s protocol also relies on “volunteers” from the corrections department, but their identities are fiercely protected by state law, shrouded in confidentiality.
The distance between the firing squad and the condemned is carefully measured. Utah’s executioners stood approximately 25 feet away. South Carolina’s protocol dictates a closer range – around 15 feet – bringing a terrifying immediacy to the process.
A disturbing element of this method is the use of blank rounds. Historically, some squads have been issued dummy ammunition, ensuring no single shooter knows if they delivered the fatal blow. This aims to distribute the psychological burden, offering a degree of plausible deniability. However, South Carolina’s recent protocols reveal a stark shift: all shooters are now equipped with live ammunition, as was the case in the execution of Brad Sigmon.
Before the volley of shots, the condemned is always blindfolded. In Utah, a black hood concealed the prisoner’s face. South Carolina’s procedure involves restraining the inmate in a chair, covering their head, and securing them with sandbags to contain any blood. A medical professional then meticulously locates the heart with a stethoscope and affixes a white target directly over it.
The aim is precise: the heart. Protocols in states like Utah specify aiming for a white target placed over the heart to ensure a swift death. South Carolina’s process is equally deliberate, requiring a medical professional to pinpoint the heart’s location before the squad fires. A direct hit, or rupture of a major blood vessel, is intended to induce immediate unconsciousness and death – a grim attempt at a humane conclusion.
