South Carolina: Stephen Corey Bryant executed by firing squad

On Friday evening, 44-year-old Stephen Corey Bryant was executed by a firing squad consisting of three gunmen in the US state of South Carolina.

He was sentenced to death for murdering three people within a week in a series of robberies in October 2004. A fourth victim survived with serious injuries. In one case, Bryant wrote “Catch me if you can” on a wall in his victim’s blood

His lawyers argued that he suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by repeated childhood sexual abuse by family members and friends.

In the weeks leading up to the murders, Stephen Bryant had been trying to get help. He was 22 years old and had spent four of the last five years in prison. Bryant had recently confessed to his aunt and grandmother that he was struggling with flashbacks of his father beating him and his mother and grandfather sexually abusing him.

In addition, his aunt recalled that he had been restless and angry in the weeks leading up to the murders. According to her testimony, his body was shaking so badly that the table he was sitting at was shaking.

Unable to pay the 75 dollars for an appointment with a therapist, his condition deteriorated rapidly, according to his lawyers, eventually ending in a violent rampage lasting several days.

It was the third execution by firing squad in South Carolina, where those to be executed choose between lethal injection, electric chair and firing squad.

The previous shooting of Mikal Mahdi last April raised questions because the autopsy revealed there were only two bullet holes instead of three and none of the bullets hit the heart.

Source: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article312907306.html