In South Carolina, Stephen Stanko, 57, was executed by lethal injection on Friday, marking the state’s sixth execution in nine months. Stanko was sentenced to death for the 2005 murder of a friend, whom he shot before stealing from his bank account. Before his execution, he delivered a 3.5-minute final statement, expressing apologies to his victims and requesting not to be judged solely for his worst actions. The execution commenced with a dose of the sedative pentobarbital. Witnesses reported Stanko appearing to speak and turning towards the victims’ families before breathing ceased about a minute in. A second dose of pentobarbital was administered 13 minutes later, with Stanko officially pronounced dead 28 minutes post-initiation.
Stanko was also sentenced to death for the murder of his live-in girlfriend, during which he raped her teenage daughter and attempted to kill her, although she survived. He considered opting for South Carolina’s new firing squad method but ultimately chose lethal injection after concerns arose from the previous execution by firing squad, where bullets failed to reach the heart.
Stanko’s execution followed a series of executions across the country, with Florida and Alabama executing inmates earlier that week. His final appeals for clemency were rejected by federal courts, which raised questions about the state’s lethal injection protocol after autopsies revealed fluid in the lungs of executed individuals. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster also denied clemency just minutes before the execution, continuing a pattern where no death row inmate has received a reprieve in 48 executions.
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