South Carolina inmate selects firing squad for Nov. 14 execution

Stephen Bryant, a 44-year-old South Carolina inmate convicted of three murders committed in 2004, has chosen to be executed by firing squad on Nov. 14, state officials said Friday. The South Carolina Supreme Court issued a death warrant on Oct. 17 after declining his attorneys’ request for a postponement related to the recent federal government shutdown. Bryant was given the option of lethal injection, electrocution or death by marksmen and selected the firing squad before the deadline.

Bryant pleaded guilty in 2008 to the killings that terrorized rural Sumter County in October 2004. Prosecutors say he fatally shot Willard T.J. Tietjen inside the man’s home, placed candles around the body and used a corner of a potholder dipped in Tietjen’s blood to write the message "victim 4 in 2 weeks. catch me if u can" on a wall. Investigators also say Tietjen’s face and eyes had been burned with cigarettes. Tietjen’s daughter testified that when she called and someone answered, the caller said, "You can’t, I killed him." Bryant also admitted to shooting two other men he had given rides to after they left vehicles to urinate on rural roads; one other man survived a nonfatal shooting,...