Disclaimer: The article has mentions of killing.
South Carolina death row inmate Stephen Bryant is now 44 years old. He is now about to face the same violence he inflicted on others, but this time, it’s state-sanctioned. Bryant was convicted of a string of murders in 2004 and has chosen to die by firing squad. We must keep in mind that this technique has only been put to use six times in the United States since 1976, and it was last used in South Carolina only a few months ago.
At 6 p.m. on November 14, Bryant will be put to death. He will be the third prisoner in South Carolina this year to choose the squad over the electric chair or a lethal injection. After a 13-year pause due to a shortage of lethal injection drugs, the state has resumed executions. Those who remember Bryant’s name are still haunted by his crimes. In October 2004, Bryant’s violent spree unfolded across South Carolina. He shot and killed three men — Cliff Gainey, Chris Burgess, and Willard “TJ” Tietjen. He left a trail of their dead bodies.
He was theatrically cruel. Inside Tietjen’s home, police discovered a blood-soaked message on the wall: “[Victim] 4 in 2 weeks. Catch me if u can.”
Bryant burned his victim’s eyes with cigarettes, surrounded them with lit candles, and used a blood-dipped potholder to write the taunting message for the police. When Tietjen’s daughter called her father’s phone, Stephen Bryant reportedly calmly told her he had killed him. Prosecutors said Bryant’s spree was random and sadistic. The sequence he followed was to pick up men, shoot them in the back while they relieved themselves, and leave their corpses along rural roads.
If Stephen Bryant is put to death Nov. 14, South Carolina would have conducted 3 firing squad executions in 10 months. Utah did 3 over a span of 33 years. #deathpenalty https://t.co/ZixJkX67Tj pic.twitter.com/Z3epGw4VMV
— Tiffany Tan (@tiffgtan) October 31, 2025
Stephen Bryant later told investigators he was using d—- and tormented after being s——- abused as a child. He reportedly smoked meth and bug-spray-laced joints to cope. His lawyers have since leaned on this history to argue for clemency. But multiple courts (including the U.S. Supreme Court) refused to overturn his sentence. Bryant has pleaded guilty to all three murders and received two life sentences plus a death sentence. His execution date was set for fall 2025 after years of appeals and psychiatric evaluations.
Under South Carolina law, death row inmates can choose among lethal injection, electrocution, or a firing squad. Those who don’t choose get the electric chair, but that hasn’t been used since 2008. Bryant chose the firing squad. As outlined by the Department of Corrections, the procedure involves three marksmen standing 15 feet away. They fire live rounds through a wall at the inmate’s heart.
Another prisoner from South Carolina, Mikal Mahdi, moaned for almost a minute after being shot last April. According to his lawyers, the gunmen missed his heart. Although Stephen Bryant’s decision to return to firing squads caused some controversy, officials insisted that the former execution went as planned. Some argue the method is more transparent than lethal injection, whose d— cocktails often fail spectacularly. Others say it is an archaic ritual.
Governor Henry McMaster has not granted clemency to any death row inmate since executions resumed in 2024, and experts predict another courtroom battle before November 14 arrives. But unless an intervention comes through, Stephen Bryant can’t outrun his fate.
