Sigmon has made the unprecedented decision to opt for South Carolina’s novel firing squad method of capital punishment, marking the first instance of an inmate selecting this form of execution since 2010. Positioned as a macabre centerpiece in the death chamber, the condemned man will be securely fastened to a chair, his visage concealed beneath a hood, while a target is affixed over his heart. From a distance of approximately 15 feet, three volunteers will discharge their firearms at the restrained felon through a small aperture.
The gruesome saga that led to Sigmon’s dire end traces back to the year 2001, when he callously bludgeoned the parents of his former girlfriend, Rebecca Barbare, to death with a baseball bat in their residence in Greenville County. Under the influence of crack cocaine and alcohol on that fateful night, Sigmon had confided in an acquaintance his vengeful intentions towards Becky for abandoning him, expressing his nefarious plans to immobilize her parents. In a chilling testimony, investigators revealed the grisly sequence of events wherein Sigmon, fueled by a barbaric frenzy, moved between rooms, mercilessly assaulting the defenseless victims until their lives were mercilessly extinguished.
Subsequently, he coerced Becky into his custody at gunpoint, yet she managed a miraculous escape from his clutches. As she fled for her life, Sigmon callously discharged his firearm in her direction, narrowly missing her. In a chilling confession, he articulated his possessive obsession with Becky, declaring his unwavering resolve to prevent her from being with anyone else, even contemplating a tragic end for both her and himself.
The calculated decision to face the firing squad was, in Sigmon’s view, a lesser evil compared to the unknown horrors that the alternative methods of execution might entail. His legal team, in a motion seeking a stay of execution before the South Carolina Supreme Court, underscored his aversion to causing additional anguish to his loved ones, the observers, and the execution personnel. Within the American penal system, only a handful of individuals have met their end via firing squad since the resumption of capital punishment in 1976, with all such instances occurring in Utah.
In his bid for a reprieve, Sigmon’s legal representatives sought to delay his scheduled execution date in February, citing the need to ascertain whether the previous South Carolina executionee, Marion Bowman, had been administered two doses of pentobarbital during his demise in January. With a grim acceptance of his fate, Sigmon’s attorney emphasized his client’s reluctance to inflict emotional distress upon those involved in his final moments. Lamenting the excessive secrecy shrouding the execution process in South Carolina, the defense team highlighted Sigmon’s poignant choice amid a landscape of limited alternatives.
As the specter of impending death looms, Sigmon stands poised to join the ranks of the 46 South Carolina inmates who have met
