Stephen Bryant, a 44-year-old man convicted of murdering three people in South Carolina in 2004, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on Friday. The state's highest court rejected a last-ditch appeal on Monday, clearing the way for the execution to proceed.
Bryant was sentenced to death for killing Willard 'TJ' Tietjen in his home. Investigators said he shot Tietjen, burned his eyes with cigarettes, and used the victim's blood to write taunting messages on the wall, including 'catch me if u can'. He was also convicted of shooting and killing two men he had given rides to, as they stepped out of his truck to urinate, over a five-day period in Sumter County.
Bryant's lawyers argued that his trial judge did not consider evidence of brain damage caused by his mother's alcohol and drug use during pregnancy. They claimed a full brain scan before his 2008 trial could have identified Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. However, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that even if such evidence had been presented, it would not have changed the outcome, noting that Bryant's crimes demonstrated 'a high level of planning, decision making, and calculation'.
Bryant's legal team also presented newly uncovered evidence, including a 2024 interview where he described sexual abuse suffered as a child from male relatives, his mother, a preacher's wife, and strippers. But the court sided with prosecutors, who argued the killings were methodical and not impulsive acts of a damaged brain.
Bryant can still ask the governor for clemency, but no South Carolina governor has granted such a request in the modern era of the death penalty. This will be the third execution by firing squad in the state this year, and the seventh since executions resumed in September 2024 after a 13-year pause due to difficulties obtaining lethal injection drugs. During the execution, Bryant will have a hood placed over his head and be shot by three volunteers from 15 feet away.
