COLUMBIA, S.C. — Some lawmakers in South Carolina are pushing a bill that would give death row inmates no choice but to be executed in the electric chair.
The state has allowed lethal injection since 1995 and 36 of the 39 inmates put to death since then have chosen that method. But South Carolina hasn't had an execution since 2011.
Its supply of lethal injection drugs expired and pharmaceutical companies won't sell the state any more.
Opponents of the bill in the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday say the electric chair is barbaric and changing the method after a prisoner is sent to death row could open the state up to lawsuits.
