COLUMBIA, South Carolina — The South Carolina Supreme Court has unanimously rejected an appeal to halt the execution of Stephen Bryant, a 44-year-old man convicted of killing three people in 2004 while leaving taunting messages in his victim’s blood. Bryant is scheduled to die by firing squad at 6 p.m. Friday at a Columbia prison, becoming the state’s third inmate executed by that method this year.
Bryant’s attorneys had argued that the sentencing judge never considered evidence of severe brain damage caused by his mother’s alcohol and drug use during pregnancy, suggesting he may suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The justices ruled that further evidence of the disorder “would not have changed the outcome,” describing Bryant’s crimes as highly calculated.
Prosecutors said Bryant killed Willard “TJ” Tietjen in his home, burning his eyes and painting “catch me if u can” on the wall. Over the following days, he murdered two other men in separate incidents across rural Sumter County. His final appeal detailed a history of abuse and trauma, but the court found the killings deliberate.
Bryant has chosen execution by firing squad, a method revived after South Carolina’s 13-year hiatus due to lethal injection drug shortages. He may still request clemency from the governor, though none has ever been granted in the state’s modern death penalty era.
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