In a chilling choice, Stephen Bryant, a death row inmate in South Carolina notorious for his gruesome taunts to law enforcement, has opted for execution by firing squad. The 44-year-old’s execution is scheduled for November 14, marking the third instance this year of the state employing its newest method of capital punishment.
Bryant’s conviction stems from the brutal murder of Willard “TJ” Tietjen. Investigators recount how, after fatally shooting Tietjen, Bryant inflicted additional torment by burning the victim’s eyes with cigarettes and leaving a macabre message, “catch me if u can,” scrawled in blood on the wall.
The scope of Bryant’s violent spree did not end there. Prosecutors detailed how he also murdered two other men during a series of incidents that instilled fear across Sumter County in October 2004. These victims were shot as Bryant gave them rides, taking their lives as they stepped out to relieve themselves by the roadside.
Bryant’s choice of execution method, which involves being shot by three volunteers from a distance of 15 feet (approximately 4.6 meters), is likely to ignite a legal battle in the coming weeks. The controversy surrounding the firing squad method was intensified by the case of Mikal Mahdi, the most recent inmate executed in this manner. Mahdi’s attorneys have raised concerns over the procedure, citing autopsy photos that suggest only two bullet entry wounds were present despite three shooters. They argue that Mahdi endured prolonged suffering because the shots possibly missed his heart, prolonging his agony far beyond what is typically expected.
Court fight likely after objections to last firing squad death
Bryant’s decision to die by being shot by three volunteers from 15 feet (4.6 meters) away means there will likely be a court fight about the execution over the next two weeks.
Attorneys for the second and most recent man shot to death said the shooters nearly missed Mikal Mahdi’s heart. They suggested Mahdi was in agonizing pain for three or four times longer than experts say he would have been if his heart had been hit directly. They released photos from the autopsy and questioned why there only appeared to be two bullet entrance wounds when three people fired.
Witnesses reported several moans and groans from Mahdi that did not happen during the first firing squad execution of Brad Sigmon. It also took Mahdi longer — about 80 seconds — to take his final breath.
Prison officials said the execution went as planned and the shooters only have to hit the heart, not destroy it. They said when the volunteers practice their marksmanship two bullets often enter in the same place in the body.
Experts hired by Mahdi’s lawyers who reviewed the autopsy said the bullet hole in his body was not jagged enough to have been made by two bullets.
The firing squad is a new addition to South Carolina’s execution methods
South Carolina added the firing squad during a 13-year pause in executions, in part because the state couldn’t obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections.
Since 1977, only three other prisoners in the U.S. have been executed by firing squad. All were in Utah, most recently Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010.
Bryant’s execution will be the seventh in South Carolina since executions restarted in September 2024. All the others have chosen execution by lethal injection. The state also has an electric chair.
Investigators say Bryant terrorized Sumter County in 2004
Bryant admitted to killing Willard “TJ” Tietjen after stopping by his secluded home in rural Sumter County and saying he had car trouble.
Tietjen was shot several times. Candles were lit around his body. Someone took a potholder made by his daughter when she was child, dipped the corner in blood and wrote “victem 4 in 2 weeks. catch me if u can” on the wall, authorities said.
Tietjen’s daughter called him several times, getting more worried when he didn’t answer. On the sixth call, she testified a strange voice answered and said he had killed Tietjen.
Prosecutors said Bryant also killed two men — one before and one after Tietjen. He gave the men rides and when they got out to urinate on the side of lonely, rural roads he shot them in the back.
Bryant’s lawyers said he was troubled in the months before the killing, begging a probation agent and his aunt to get him help because he couldn’t stop thinking about being sexually abused by four male relatives when he was a child.
Bryant tried to help himself through the pain by using meth and smoking joints he sprayed with bug killer, his defense attorneys said.
A total of 41 men have died by court-ordered execution in the U.S. this year, and at least 18 more are scheduled to be put to death during the remainder of 2025 and next year.
Bryant’s death will be the 50th execution in South Carolina since the death penalty was reinstated 40 years ago.
