Source: SFGate
“A federal judge Wednesday told lawyers for a South Carolina inmate scheduled to [be killed by state employees] in two days that he doesn’t plan to stop the execution because they didn’t have evidence there were problems with the state’s lethal injection process. Federal judge Richard Gergel limited arguments in Stephen Stanko’s case to just lethal injection since that’s the method the condemned inmate chose for his death Friday evening. His lawyers had wanted to argue about the state’s most recent execution by firing squad, saying Stanko changed his mind about dying by bullets because of accounts about the firing squad death of Mikal Mahdi and autopsy results that showed the shooters nearly missed his heart. However, Gergel closed that door right at the start of the 50-minute hearing at the federal courthouse in Charleston. The state Supreme Court ruled against Stanko last month.” (06/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/lawyers-for-a-south-carolina-inmate-ask-a-court-20371654.php